Outdoor Learning

An Eden Geothermal Community Fund grant has been awarded to Biscovey Academy to help them develop an outdoor education space within their school grounds.

The grant will help with clearing and developing a currently unused area, and will provide resources to create a meaningful outdoor learning space which includes a pupil classroom and a garden.

The new learning area will be primarily used to support pupils with SEMH (social, emotional and mental health) needs to access education in an outdoor setting when they struggle to access mainstream classroom environments. The advantages of this approach have been widely documented. But the new area will also be used by the wider school community to teach all pupils and staff about the benefits of being outside.

“The aim is to help pupils improve their emotional health, to develop their understanding of sustainable and healthy lifestyles and to help them learn skills for life.”

The aim is to help pupils improve their emotional health, to develop their understanding of sustainable and healthy lifestyles and to help them learn skills for life. Some of the area will be used to grow food, and a fire pit is to be created, where pupils can learn to cook some of the food they have grown.

In time and as the project develops, the school team hopes to incorporate opportunities for people from the surrounding community to benefit from the new resource too. And, to ensure the benefits of the new outdoor learning area can be fully maximised, additional funding is being sought to provide a member of staff with accredited outdoor leader training.