If you’re unsure about the merits of introducing more outdoor activities at your school, you may want to take a look at the findings of a study conducted by the Education Endowment Trust.
Independent Education Today recently shared the findings of the research, which showed that pupils make better academic progress if they’re also getting involved in outdoor activities. In fact, the study found that students who regularly get involved in outdoor learning make approximately four months of additional academic progress compared to those who don’t.
What’s more, a further study by Natural England found that 92 per cent of pupils enjoy their lessons more when they’re conducted outdoors.
Even if you’re not able to regularly offer outdoor lessons, introducing outdoor activities like climbing or kayaking to the curriculum could be highly beneficial for your students.
Head of adventure and service at Lomond School in Scotland Caroline Hoole told the publication that outdoor education has benefits beyond the obvious. “Outdoor education is one of the core experiences any child should have regularly. This is especially relevant in terms of contributing to mental wellbeing,” she asserted.
And it’s not only about outdoor activities, but simply conducting regular lessons in an outdoor space.
St Swithun’s School in Winchester has invested in an outdoor classroom that can be used all year round. Headmistress of the prep school Rebecca Lyons-Smith said the school wanted to “encourage teachers to seek out opportunities to increase our outdoor learning provision”.
Earlier this year, the Guardian explained that children need to experience risk during play because this helps them learn essential life lessons.
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