The outdoor classroom knows no bounds
Danielle Farrelly, Deputy Headteacher, Longford Park Primary School
Longford Park has always been a school which is incredibly proud of its rich curriculum offer when it comes to engaging and purposeful visits and visitors. However, our ‘Learning Beyond the Classroom’ ethos has gone from strength to strength, since embarking on further development through the Waterways, Wildlife and Well-being programme.
Experiences and learning are now meticulously planned and integrated into our amazing curriculum to include all areas of our school site, in addition to those adventures further afield. Our children embrace learning beyond the classroom and we are now beginning to see the improvement not only in our children’s well-being, but their attainment across all subject areas too.
From boat trips and the Tower of London to a giant Iron Man and Antarctic pursuits, our staff really do go all out when it comes to planning experiences for our children.
Following mentoring provided by CLOtC and supported by the Canal and River Trust, Longford Park have fully embraced the importance for our children of taking learning beyond that of the classroom, to create purposeful and meaningful activities which will support them in knowing and remembering more. Our subject leaders have worked tirelessly to map out our curriculum to include progressive experiences from our Nursery class up to our eldest children in Year 6.
Through collaborative planning, shared experiences from other schools in our network as well as the wealth of online resources, we are incredibly proud of our provision. Children and their families recognise the lengths our staff go to in ensuring that our school goes above and beyond the four walls of the classroom, supporting them in experiencing opportunities they may well not otherwise have the chance to.
The staff most certainly deserved to be awarded with the Silver LOtC award in March 2023 following involvement with the Waterways, Wildlife and Wellbeing project and have continued to develop their daily practice, having successfully achieved Gold LOtC Mark in November 2024!
With the introduction of our Forest School provision last year, further training and additional funding, our school will no doubt continue on its journey to provide the best!
We were inspected by Ofsted last month and we have not only improved our Quality of Education from Requires Improvement to Good since our last inspection, but we were also judged as 'Outstanding' for our personal development. One of the many elements we talked about was of course our learning beyond the classroom, which contributed massively to our achievements in both curriculum delivery and personal development.
Learning Outcomes
Danielle believes LOtC has:
- Improved achievement and attainment across a range of curricular subjects.
- Provided greater sense of personal responsibility.
- Improved environmental appreciation, knowledge, awareness and understanding of a variety of environments.
- offered a marked improvement in physical and mental well-being, through being connected to nature.
Find out more
Longford Park Primary School took part in the Waterways, Wildlife and Wellbeing project. Find out more.
Find out more about the LOtC Mark.
