Outdoor Learning

At Kings Hill we are fortunate to have fantastic grounds of approximately five acres and a member of staff dedicated to outdoor curriculum based learning. We have five outdoor learning zones including; the pond area, the whispering woods, the kitchen garden, wildflower meadow and storytelling circle.

How do our children get involved?

All children have curriculum based lessons for their outdoor learning days throughout the year. We closely match the learning from their curriculum and think of unique ways to bring this learning to life for them outside. As well as the curriculum based lessons, children use the grounds for imaginative play and den-building. We use the grounds to educate our children about environmental issues, sustainability and recycling  by looking after our school habitats.

Science

We use our grounds to identify trees and flowers and discuss germination and seed dispersal. We investigate how plants grow and explore the reproductive parts of a flowering plant. 

We are very fortunate to have a number of different habitats within our grounds which lend themselves to exploring the animals that live in each one. We study animal groups within this work and use classification keys to identify animals that are found. 

For our younger children,  we use the grounds to help them understand and use their senses to uncover different natural items. 

Using our grounds for our materials topics means that we can use different natural objects and discuss their properties and we are able to make different animal houses using these materials and explain why they are fit for purpose. 

Geography

Learning about the seas, oceans, United Kingdom, other countries and the continents are a vital part of the geography curriculum. We use our outdoor days to consolidate this knowledge by making maps from mud and natural objects. To help with the idea of space, place and map making, the children make journey sticks.

We use outdoor learning days to delve deeper in to costal formations, river systems, mountains, tectonic plates and earthquake zones using mud and slate to create models to help the children visualise their learning. The children are encouraged to label their models using the geography vocabulary that they have been learning. 

 History

We use our outdoor learning days to explore different periods on the timeline. We carry out a comparative study from the Stone Age to the Iron Age making different tools for survival including flint spears and looking at cave paintings using charcoal and what they can tell us about those times. The children also build a model of Skara Brae when thinking about settlements. Moving on to Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, the children look at how settlements have changed and use natural objects to build houses of these time periods. 

When learning about Ancient Greece, the children will use their outdoor learning day to create the Parthenon, they take part in the Greek Olympics and make Greek urns from clay. 

To further the children's understanding of Mary Anning, we create giant stick ammonites and make trace fossils with clay and leaves. 

For our World War II topic, children will 'Dig for Victory', planting in our kitchen garden as well taking part in Morse code activities. 

English

In Year 5, the children study Kensuke's Kingdom. To enrich this learning, the children carry out a survival day whereby they learn to knot tie, build rafts, semaphore and create shelters. 

In Year 2, the children build the City of London with homemade Tudor houses and watch as they burn, thinking about why the Great Fire of London spread so quickly. This enactment then inspires the children for their creative writing. 

We use our outdoor learning days to immerse children in recreating their classroom stories to bring them to live and inspire writing, for example making potions for Charlie Stinky Socks, acting out the story of 'We Are Going to Find a Monster' and building the houses from 'The Three Little Pigs'. 

Art

As part of the art curriculum, children look at invertebrate studies and the children explore and photograph mini-beasts ready for to use for their watercolour paintings in class. In year 5, children interpret Darwinian sketches through mini beasts they have found in the grounds, creating their own pencil drawings. Children use watercolours to paint invertebrates following a pond dipping session. 

To enhance their Egyptian learning,  the children paint large scale sarcophagi and make square pyramids from sticks. Large scale paintings of the solar system help the children remember the order of the planets from the Sun as part of their space learning. 

Maths

To support our maths curriculum, the children use the outside area to collect data using tallies and create graphs for their results.