On Thursday 3rd November, The Willows held a school-wide Outdoor Learning Day, where the children took their learning to the great outdoors for a fun-filled day. Year 6 spent their morning in the church grounds, first doing some outdoor reading of our class novel before getting stuck into lots of team-building and communication games. we played gutter ball, where the children had to work as a team with small sections of guttering to continually link and transport the ball down the tunnel to a decided finishing line. It is fair to say the children were hopeless at first, but after some timely interventions, group discussions and group leaders coming to the fore, they soon upped their game and worked as an excellent team. The children had a brilliant time playing scrabble scramble – a spelling game where each group had a pack of laminated scrabble cards placed about 100m away from their start point, and the team had to run off to their pack to make the highest scoring word for an agreed category in a time limit. We played lots of rounds and it is amazing how much effort the children put into their running when points are up for grabs!

After break time, the children had a mathematical treasure hunt around the church grounds continuing their learning from what they have been doing over the last week inside the classroom. The children used their calculation methods but all had a great time consolidating and improving their mathematical abilities in an outdoor, physical setting. To finish the morning, the children had an hour’s Forest School session with staff from ParkView4U. As you will see from the photos, the children produced some amazing artwork taking inspiration from outdoor, natural artists like James Brunt and Andy Goldsworthy. The children also had time for fire-made popcorn and absolutely loved the fire lighting activity using cotton wool and a ferrod rod!

A busy afternoon followed, with the children taking part in an orienteering activity ran by staff from Outdoor Education N.W., seasonal and outdoor inspired dance routines led by staff from Blue Moose Dance Company and had a go at more problem solving challenges to improve their resilience and communication. It is safe to say, everyone had an amazing day and we look forward to our next adventure outdoors very soon!