Outdoor Learning
At Edge Grove, pupils embrace all the many opportunities afforded by our site to extend learning and play far beyond the doors of the classroom. Our beautiful grounds, covering over 44 acres of stunning Hertfordshire countryside, encourage learning and exploration, and inspire children to engage with the natural environment around them, whatever the weather.
Our co-curricular provision makes ample use of our site; whether through timetabled Forest School lessons with specialist staff for pupils in Nursery to Year 4, or via our After School Clubs provision, which includes our very popular Outdoor and Gardening Clubs, pupils and staff alike getting out and about in the great outdoors!
Outdoor Learning activities include campfires and cooking, tree climbing, balancing, using simple tools, making swings, whittling, printing, planting, mindfulness, learning about the natural environment, animal and sensory activities.
Spending time outside offers an antidote to some of the demands of the modern world, and helps to connect our children with the simpler pleasures of the natural world. Outdoor learning can inspire children in a different way from classroom lessons, and provides a safe space in which children can take risks and try new things
In 2024, we welcomed bee-keeping to our Outdoor Learning programme, spearheaded by our Forest School Leader, Mrs Doughty, and we look forward to our hives producing their first jars of Edge Grove honey soon – watch this space!
Forest School lessons focus on an approach to learning that maximises the emotional, social and developmental benefits of education.
Young people are stimulated by the outdoors and typically experience, over time, an increase in their self-belief, confidence, learning capacity, enthusiasm, communication and problem solving skills and emotional wellbeing. Pupils connect with the environment, come rain or shine, and as any observer will see, enjoy every minute.
Through participating in a wide variety of ‘hands on’ activities children are able to set objectives, achieve goals and experience success which has a positive impact on their experience of learning short and long term.
The forest setting offers a multitude of ways to focus on and use the senses, raising awareness of surroundings and self-awareness in relation to thoughts, feelings and responses to experiences. Raising awareness of the senses combined with the use of mindfulness techniques encourages and enables pupils to direct their attention to experiences as they unfold with curiosity and acceptance, taking learning to another level.
Taking advantage of the beautiful grounds at Edge Grove, our Nursery to Year 4 pupils have timetabled Forest School lessons.Pupils love the experience of sitting in the log circle, learning the forest rules and exploring their surroundings. They enjoy pond dipping, learning how to make camp fires and mud bathing! Through play, they learn about the natural environment, how to handle risks and most importantly to use their own initiative to solve problems and co-operate with others.
And, as of June 2024, they will also be learning more about bee-keeping, since we welcomed our first 60,000 honeybees to the Edge Grove Pride.
