The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

Outdoor learning

Joanna Feast

When it’s cold outside, get stuck into outdoor learning!

Yes, it may be cold but you can still embrace outdoor activities during the winter. Joanna Feast emphasises the many benefits of spending time outside, including mood improvement, stress relief and enhanced connections with nature and emotions. 'Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is...
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Edd Moore

Teaching pupils practical skills for sustainability

Edd Moore underscores the need to equip pupils with practical sustainability skills. He looks at student-driven initiatives, advocating for waste reduction, recycling and gardening projects in schools. Now more than ever, it is even more important for every child to know and be aware of local,...
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Olivia Coombe

Five fantastic outdoor activity ideas

Outdoor play is vital in a child's development and offers many opportunities which could not be granted indoors. Olivia Coombe explores five activities, and the skills children will develop through these. Playing outdoors presents an excellent opportunity for children to utilize natural materials...
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Elizabeth Holmes

Outdoor learning and Forest School – enhancing experiences at school

What is Forest School? Elizabeth Holmes discusses establishing a Forest School and the benefits that come with it . What if we knew that spending time outside in the natural world contributed positively to our sense of health and overall wellbeing? Would that impact how we teach children to...
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Gareth D Morewood

Getting value from educational visits

Taking the time to arrange bespoke plans for individual students will mean everyone can make the most of school trips. Conway Centre, Anglesey. Picture credit: conwaycentres.co.uk have previously written about how inclusion means everyone goes , even on the road . After taking 231 Year 7 students...
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Gareth D Morewood

Let's all go to the zoo!

School visits can be great ways to integrate aspects of the curriculum and give all students something to talk about. This week, we took our Year 8s deep into the animal kingdom. This week we took our Year 8 on their annual educational visit to Chester Zoo. In line with our usual philosophy , all...
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Anita Foster

Help pupils make memories, not take photos!

We snap, share and store our memories all the time - but if we truly want to help children learn, we need to consider swapping tablets for trees. Many years ago, I was lucky enough to whale watch in New Zealand. Sperm whales just off the coast of the South Island. I have many photos, including...
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Anita Foster

Effective teaching in the great outdoors

Outdoor learning can be a great way to enrich a school's curriculum and engage pupils in new opportunities beyond the typical forest school afternoon. When I tell people what I do, I often get a response along the lines of ‘Oh, forest schools?’ While I appreciate much of what forest schools can do...
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Chris Wright

Increasing physical activity and raising standards: the magic formula

Inactivity is becoming the biggest threat to young people’s long-term health (1). Chris Wright, head of health at the Youth Sport Trust, looks at how a focus on physical activity in your school can give it a competitive advantage in raising both health and educational standards. The issue of...
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Alex Masters

The state of play: how Lego can lead to deeper learning

‘Play is the beginning of knowledge,’ so a wise man once said. Indeed, recent studies have found clear links between play and deeper learning...so much so that there have been calls for Ofsted to stress the importance of play in its inspection framework. There are many compelling cases for the link...
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