The Outdoor Education Programme
Teacher training and professional development opportunities
Outdoor Education Programme
Visits are tailored by the Education Team to the requirements of each school – but here is a brief overview of the comprehensive range of learning activities which can be offered:
- Farming/agriculture/where food comes from
- Sensory trail/earthwalk
- Habitat trail, pond dipping, mini-beast hunt
- Maths trail
- Orienteering
- Artwork
- Field studies
- River study
- Team building
- Comparative local area studies
- Literacy & Numeracy
- Family learning
- Teacher training and personal development
Forest School
There are dedicated areas of woodland on the ECT estates used for regular Forest School sessions. Forest School is a way of incorporating outdoor learning experiences for children and young people into their normal school life; children spend regular sessions in an area of woodland that is natural, safe and accessible, working to their usual curriculum but in an outdoor setting.
Forest School allows children:
- The time and space to explore and learn at their own pace
- To develop a relationship with their outdoor environment through frequent and regular experiences throughout the year
- To use their own inherent individual style of learning
- To develop their own self esteem and confidence
- To learn to work as part of a team
Forest School offers children:
- Opportunities to make their own assessments of risk
- Opportunities to develop thinking, speaking and problem solving
- Opportunities to build on their innate motivation and positive attitude to learning
- Opportunities to help them understand, appreciate and care for the natural Environment
Led by qualified Forest School Leaders, sessions are offered as weekly, monthly or termly visits by children of all ages.
Residential visits
On the Gloucestershire estates, residential visits can be arranged. In conjunction with the visiting school, each visit is individual to the children taking part and activities are planned accordingly.
Teacher training and professional development opportunities
The Education Team offer teachers and practitioners the use of the Outdoor Education Centres for teacher training sessions – using the Education Team or bringing in other trained personnel. Please contact the Head of Education to discuss professional development days further.
Health and safety
The safety and well-being of every individual visiting the Trust’s estates as part of an outdoor learning visit is paramount in the planning of all visits.
- All sites used for education have no public access, and are maintained by ECT staff to the highest standard; every area is individually checked immediately before each visit
- A risk assessment is compiled for every visit by the Education Officers in conjunction with the school involved
- Toilet and hand washing facilities are available at the outdoor education centres and follow the H&S Executive guidelines
- All teachers are encouraged to meet the Education Officers and become familiar with the sites before the school visit
10,000 pairs of feet! –
Trust's education programme celebrates milestone
As the outdoor education programmes on the Trust's estates continue to expand, we are celebrating reaching the milestone of 10,000 visits during 2009, as Anne Newman, ECT's Head of Education, reports:
"This is a great achievement for all who have worked so hard to develop our education work, and it bodes well for future provision.
"The sheer wealth of educational activities happening on our estates makes me realise that what we offer here is much broader than implied by the term ‘outdoor education’. We are doing much more than simply taking the curriculum outdoors," says Anne.
"For example, on our Trent Estate in Dorset, Stuart and Tessa Casely spent two days at school fetes last summer term. With ducklings, chicks, lambs, goats and ferrets in tow, they talked to local people about the ECT education programmes, as well as modern farming and where our food comes from. As an extension to the valuable school visits they offer, this was a way of sharing their knowledge with the local community and spreading the word about our work. 
"On our Fairford and Slimbridge estates in Gloucestershire we ran several Family Woodland Days in the summer; it was rewarding to watch youngsters who attended the Forest Schools during their early school days, sharing their knowledge and understanding of the woodland with parents and friends – and showing them how to light and put out a fire safely!
"We also organised Holiday Club days for children, including a day building rafts. This may not seem like education, but again, it gets children out on the estate, learning to work together and think for themselves. For children who come to our Forest Schools, it’s not just about teaching them about what grows in the woodland. It’s teaching them to assess risk, giving them a sense of independence, teaching them teamwork and raising self-esteem."
But it is not just the children who benefit from what ECT can offer. "We recently had a professional development day for 60 teachers on the Slimbridge Estate; they learnt of some of the many benefits of outdoor learning, how it fits into the National Curriculum and experienced some of the activities themselves," reports Anne.
In July an entire special needs department from an inner-city school visited; this group of 29 children, aged five to 11, had been in this country less than nine months and English was not their first language. They came to experience the English countryside and to spend time together in an environment other than the classroom.
Anne recalls: "It was slightly daunting as they erupted from the coach, all talking in languages I did not understand, but gradually through the day they began to listen, to me as well as each other, and to work together. So, education comes in many shapes and sizes; although not always curriculum-based we also offer everyone visiting the estates the chance to discover many things about the great outdoors, things about each other and, most importantly, things about themselves."