Stroud School, Romsey, embraces outdoor learning

Despite the wind and rain, Stroud School pupils enjoyed a day of outdoor learning for Outside the Classroom Day part of a global initiative to celebrate and inspire outdoor learning. In 2018, over 350 million children worldwide took part, more than 550,000 were in the UK and Ireland.

Stroud pupils benefit from lots of opportunities to learn outside on a day-to-day basis, but Learning Outside the Classroom Day is part of a global initiative to celebrate and inspire outdoor learning. This enables teachers to pin learning outcomes to these new experiences. At Stroud, such opportunities also underpin key Stroud Spirit skills including resilience and collaboration.

Celebrating Learning Outside the Classroom Day at Stroud enabled the whole school to embrace the spirit of the Outdoor Classroom concept. During the day, a number of lessons were ‘taken outside’ and pupils took part in a range of inspiring activities. From maths calculations on the playground, and French amongst the flower beds, to science experiments on the field, and whittling dreamcatchers in the woods.

Across the academic year, Stroud pupils enjoy a broad range of learning outside the classroom, both on and off site. From week long overseas trips to day visits to local country parks. Forest school and beach school are integrated into the curriculum for younger pupils. Teachers also creatively bring the ‘Outside’ into our classrooms. Whether it’s an author or history expert coming in to lead a workshop to enhance the curriculum, or video links to other schools around the world to embed foreign language learning.

Stroud has recently been awarded the ‘Council for Learning Outside the Classroom’ (CLOtC) Silver Award, a national accreditation that has been endorsed by the Department for Education. This award sits perfectly alongside the School’s ‘Eco Schools Green Flag’, which it has maintained for the past ten years.

To find out more about life at Stroud or to arrange a visit, call 01794 513231 or email registrar@stroud-kes.org.uk.