The benefits of outdoor learning at Mougins School

Outdoor learning is a global movement to integrate outdoor time into every child's day, with teachers taking their classes outdoors to learn. At Mougins School in Primary, we call it School in the Woods! Let’s discover the benefits of outdoor learning.

Taking learning outdoors can enhance education and improve mental health

Children are spending less time outdoors than they used to, which is affecting their health, well-being and love of nature. At Mougins School, we are passionate about enhancing the learning experience by using the outdoors as much as possible. We often see classes of students outside, using the wonderful space around the school to practise the concepts they are working on. 

Outdoor learning can have a major impact on the learning and development of our students. From improving problem-solving skills to communication and resilience, School in the Woods offers countless opportunities for exploration, experimentation and contextual learning. 

School in the Woods, where student thrive learning outside with a practical approach

School in the Woods is a fantastic platform to provide our students with valuable opportunities to develop their skills of collaboration, problem solving and creative thinking. Outdoor time often provides the most memorable learning experiences and helps children to make sense of the world around them by putting their learning into a meaningful context.

 

In the last few weeks, LaunchPad, KS1 and KS2 students have naturally had lessons outside. 

Our LaunchPad explorers had fun looking for minibeasts in the forest. Spiders, ants, worms, ladybirds or caterpillars, each child had a clipboard to write down the mini-beasts they saw. A beautiful sunny afternoon to play nature detectives while remaining very concentrated to observe as many small animals as possible!

Luca - LaunchPad “I like to follow the horses' tracks when we go into the forest and look at the minibeasts.”

Year 2 students have been roaming the woods to find branches to learn how to measure, compare and extend outdoor maths experiences.

Livia - Year 2 “When we do classes outside, I learn new things, like the last time we did maths by measuring branches and stones. Sometimes I can find maths tricky but I love learning outside!”

Our Year 4 Key Stage 2 students were accompanied by Christophe, our bus driver, to the beautiful village of Gourdon to put Geography lessons into practice!

Boris - Year 4 KS2 "I love it when we learn outside because we always come back with great memories! We went to Gourdon to read maps with a compass. We found a secret passage and observed many trees, like a fig tree and a chestnut tree. It was so funny when we had a snack because, as we couldn't find any rubbish bin, Mrs Kellner had to keep all our waste and it started to smell bad."

As you can see, learning does not need to take place just within the classroom and there is much research and discussion within education currently that focuses on the positive impact for children of taking their learning outside. 
We are very pleased that Mougins School is integrating outdoor learning into the current curriculum and that our students can benefit from it. It's simple, you only have to see their smiles during these activities to understand the benefits of outdoor learning.