Cleveleys primary school swap pencils for twigs in special outdoor learning day

Northfold Community Primary school on Ringway, Cleveleys braved the wet winter weather on Thursday November 7 for National Outdoor Learning day, teaching pupils skills for life in the great outdoors.
Teacher Kate Steventon is pushed to the woods by pupils at Northfold Community Primary school.Teacher Kate Steventon is pushed to the woods by pupils at Northfold Community Primary school.
Teacher Kate Steventon is pushed to the woods by pupils at Northfold Community Primary school.

All classes took part, with year two recreating the Great Fire of London by using their science skills to develop new homes after theirs were "burned down."

Year one also used their science knowledge to build homes for their teddies, and new animal habitats were built by years three and four.

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Other pupils were taught to put up tents, participate in maths challenges with natural materials, and transport themselves back to the Stone Age with makeshift tools for cave-painting.

Hedgehog houses were made by cutting willow.Hedgehog houses were made by cutting willow.
Hedgehog houses were made by cutting willow.

Julie Ellershaw, a teaching assistant at Northfold, organised the outdoor curriculum work to develop the pupils' lifelong skills.

She said: "Outdoor learning gives the children the chance to take control of their own ideas and lead their own projects.

"Years three and four have outdoor learning every week, but we are going to have weekly outdoor learning sessions for every class eventually."

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Ofsted are encouraging all schools to implement more outdoor learning to develop skills children can take through life with them, Julie said.

Headteacher Alison Wilson said: "This is an area we are concentrating on greatly this year."

"We are all mindful that, sadly, lots of children in current society display mental health issues (even at this age) and we are trying to alleviate these problems by encouraging outdoor play, fun and communication skills."

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