The importance of outdoor learning

Outdoor learning and physical activity are crucial for a child’s educational development and their overall wellbeing.

Fresh air and exercise help children stay healthy and well, while outdoor learning can inspire them in ways the classroom cannot, instilling a life-long love for the environment and the natural world.

At Pilgrims, we understand how important it is for our little people to be outdoors, to connect with nature and to stay active. Not only that, the children absolutely love learning outside.

Here, we look at the opportunities we provide for children to be outdoors and the host of engaging activities they can take part in at Pilgrims.

Gardening Club

We are very proud of our hugely successful gardening club at Pilgrims, set up just three years ago by Mrs Ellis, which has flourished ever since.

The club is absolutely blooming, having achieved an RHS Level 1 School Gardening Award this year, and is now working towards Level 2.

Mrs Ellis said: “It literally started with a couple of flowers and as things progressed we set up a little allotment.

“As the club got bigger, we bought a polytunnel and started doing plant sales and crop sales, with all donations going back into the gardening club.

“The club is a big hit with the children, giving them a host of transferable skills and new learning opportunities.

“We have incorporated it into our curriculum as it has been a massive hit and we’ve received so much positive feedback.

“The children absolutely love it too.”

Forest School 

Pilgrims’ Forest School is also hugely popular with the children, giving them an opportunity to learn in the fresh air and inspire their imagination.

We are lucky enough to have a lovely wooded area on the school grounds, giving us the perfect setting for an outdoor classroom among the leaves.

Mrs Bartram,  our Forest School lead, said: “Outdoor learning is a huge thing for children’s education. Nature is so important.

“It’s something I’m really passionate about – my dear old dad was a beekeeper for more than 50 years.

“There is so much to it. It’s not just about taking the lesson outside. 

“We plant seeds on the meadow, build hedgehog habitats and minibeast hotels, teach them about map skills, the lifecycle of frogs… the opportunities for learning really are endless.

“We even get parents involved with our Mothers Day and Fathers Day Forest School sessions.

“I’ve been working in education for 27 years now, and the opportunities for outdoor learning here at Pilgrims are huge. In one year alone we were able to plant 250 trees for the Woodland Trust.

“You can see every day how much the children love it. Rain or shine, so long as it’s safe, we’re outside learning.” 

Healthy Heart Week

Pilgrims’ Healthy Heart Week, held each summer, sees children across the school take part in a range of fun, outdoor sporty activities, spending the majority of the week in their PE kit.

Mrs Lock, who organises the week’s activities, said: “We do as many outdoor sporty and healthy activities as we can, from movement and nutrition to heart health and tooth health.

“We start on Monday with the whole school, from pre-school up, doing an aerobics session on the school field.  

“Then across the week, each year takes part in a host of sporty fun, including house tennis, house football and house dodgeball.

“We have tennis sessions for the little ones, bikeability, scootability and swimming.”

Mrs Lock said the week is one of the highlights of the year for the children.

“They absolutely love it,” she said.

“Learning about health and staying active is very important, and the younger you can teach them the better and more likely they will continue with a healthy lifestyle.”

Outdoor experiences

Providing opportunities for our children to learn outdoors and experience nature is an important part of Pilgrims’ ethos.

We understand the huge benefits of outdoor learning in nurturing a child’s creativity, imagination and curiosity while instilling a love for the natural world – and there’s enormous amount of research that shows this is the case.

But most importantly, we see the beaming smiles the children have when sitting in our Forest School or taking part in the Gardening Club – they love every moment!

Discover more about our outdoor learning facilities and resources by emailing us at admissions@pilgrims-school.org.uk.  Or book a place at our November Open Morning and  experience our beautiful outdoor spaces firsthand.