”Staff are reminded that the only appropriate venue for a lesson is a Classroom.”
That was the gist of a memo sent around one sunny day by the headmaster of my school and shared by a disgruntled teacher with myself and the rest of a Senior Class.
You may guess that this headmaster was not a man of vision. I don’t remember him ever doing anything insightful, inspiring or even unexpected.
What an opportunity he missed by restricting our learning to within the shabby walls of our dull school. I was at that place five years and I never once even had the chance to walk as far as the edge of the school grounds, let alone do any learning in those extensive but under-used acres.
So I was delighted to come past an East Lothian school today and see a reassuringly broad range of pupils out in the fresh air in - gasp - schooltime. It was obvious there was quite a range of activities going on - not just the predictable sports. Some children seemed simply to be having the chance to make the most of the weather - hard to tell in passing, but they were having a great time. Others were taking part in activities which clearly had a greater scope and freedom to be explored in a wider, wilder space than the classroom.
And anybody coming past, like me, got a glimpse of school-life; a chance for classroom and community to connect. That’s got to be a positive thing as well.
Here’s to thinking - quite literally - outside the four walls.
You (one) simply have (has) to get outside in this weather…24 degress on Muck today and we had to get our ” visiting” (she live in the house down from the school, we’re very lucky) dance specialist to work outside on the grass with the gang. How could a teacher NOT take a class outside in this weather? Reminds me of a tale on my PGCE teacher training about a teacher doing the water cycle and NOT taking the kids outside during the lesson when it started to snow…maybe apocraphyl but point made nonetheless…
Last week we had an Outdoor Learning Day where the entire school spent the entire day outside. It was a great success and all the children really enjoyed themselves. (The weather was kind though - especially as it really poured the previous day!)
With the weather being great today and yesterday our school grounds have been packed - all day! With the correct attitude and forward-thinking from the management team learning can happen anywhere! (We even have an outdoor classroom now!)
Remember the old adage - there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing!
During my brief interlude of teaching in a Jamaican high school, I used to love taking my English class outside to read or act on the grass under the big tree. There were 40 girls so crammed into the front half of a classroom that you couldn’t walk between desks - the floor at the back of the classroom had collapsed and was roped off - so it was wonderful to get outside into fresh air and space.