Being able to learn in the great outdoors is something girls at the Lower School experience every day and it has been great to get back to our Beach School programme this term.
Reception and Year One thoroughly enjoyed their first trip to the beach. They were so excited to travel on the minibuses and have a picnic lunch! It was lovely to see them exploring a wide-open space, searching for beach treasures, and looking for clues to find out about the wildlife that live in a beach environment.
Activities included creating their names or initials out of pebbles and sorting natural objects, found on the beach hunt, into different groups. The girls’ resilience in the wind and the rain was impressive, with smiles on their faces too!
The best classroom in the world has already been enjoyed by girls in Years 2-4 as well this term, with trips planned for Year 5 and 6 in the coming weeks.
The most recent trip with Year 4 began on a frosty and cold morning but the autumn sun soon shone in all its glory, and excited children soaked up the rays and the atmosphere.
With ‘Climate Change’ a hot agenda item, the girls donned gloves and began with a beach clean, whilst looking for ‘treasure’.
Following this, time was spent in groups creating Tutankhamun’s tomb, with a burial chamber, treasure chamber and an annexe. There were excellent designs, including secret entrances, and it was heartening to see and hear how much the girls have learnt over the course of the term about their Ancient Egyptian topic.
Lunch was alfresco under beautiful blue skies, before returning to the beach for some poetry writing. Hot chocolate was all that was needed to end a perfect day before they headed home.
Providing outdoor learning opportunities is part of the fabric that makes up the curriculum at the Lower School. It also helps the girls develop many skills that are hard to teach in the classroom. It encourages them to be active, assess situations, take risks and make decisions, with lots of activities to develop both fine and gross motor skills. The girls learn to be self-sufficient and take care of themselves, which boosts their confidence and self-esteem. Through trial and error they learn to deal with failure and develop the resilience: a skill critical in and outside the classroom.
