Outdoor Learning at Whittonstall
The ethos of Outdoor School is based on a fundamental respect for children and young people and for their capacity to instigate, test and maintain curiosity in the world around them. It believes in children’s right to play; the right to access the outdoors (and in particular a woodland environment); the right to access risk and the vibrant reality of the natural world; and the right to experience a healthy range of emotions, through all the challenges of social interaction, to build a resilience that will enable continued and creative engagement with their peers and their potential.

We are very lucky to have a fire pit and outdoor area within the school grounds. We also visit the woods where we have a Forest School site which is fantastic for den building!

The children learn skills for the outdoors through a carefully mapped out, progressive, scheme of work. The forest school trained staff use their own expertise to ensure that the children build their substantive knowledge and procedural knowledge by revisiting and repeating their learning, building on their skills and their ability to identify safe risk.