LOtC Awards for Excellence and Innovation 2009
in association with TUI.

At the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom’s first annual conference on the 3rd December, eight schools from across the country received awards for their commitment to providing challenging and inspiring learning outside the classroom activities. 

The Awards, sponsored by TUI-Student Division are in their second year and have seen over 120 schools applying to be recognised for their efforts to integrate LOtC into the curriculum.  The judging panel were pleased to see such a wide range of projects and innovative practices taking place on school grounds, in the immediate locality through for example museums and libraries and further afield at field studies centres and cultural exchanges abroad.  Entries listed activities ranging from forensic detective role play to educational visits to the Thames Barrier, talking to local miners about the history of coal mining, forest schools, bear hunts, school gardening projects, themed learning weeks and much more. 

Regional winners were delighted to be presented with a trophy, certificate and prize money by Edwin Doran of TUI-Student Division. Sandhill View School in Sunderland, winner for the North East, was also nominated the National Winner and received an all expenses paid, three day residential to an outdoor activity centre. 

Beth Gardner, Chief Executive of the CLOtC congratulated the winners and commented “Learning outside the classroom experiences are proven to raise educational attainment and play an important part in improving young people’s social, emotional and personal development.   We believe that every young person should have access to regular, continuous and progressive LOtC experiences and these Awards are one way of recognising schools’ efforts to do so”.

The winning schools for 2009 are as follows:

Regional Winner for London – Riverley Primary School, London
Regional Winner for the South East – Hassocks Infant School, Sussex
Regional Winner for the West Midlands – Pye Green Valley Primary School, Staffordshire
Regional Winner for the East Midlands – Edale Rise Primary School, Nottingham
Regional Winner for the East of England – West Earlham Infant School, Norwich
Regional Winner for the South West – Gorran School, Cornwall
Regional Winner for the North West – Chatsworth High School & Community College, Manchester
Regional Winner for the North East – Sandhill View School, Sunderland

The National Winner for the LOtC Awards in Excellence and Innovation is Sandhill View School, Sunderland.  To read more about Sandhill please click here.

To register your interest in the LOtC Awards for 2010 please email LOtC.nominations@live.co.uk

To find out more about how you can incorporate LOtC into your school curriculum, please visit www.lotc.org.uk.