learning outside the classroom - Doubled Up

I had two things I wanted to blog about this week. Firstly, the free theatre places for young people, which is being launched this month. The secondly the new recruitment service for schools and applicants.

Consequently, I have spent an hour or so this morning researching this to get more information (I would have liked to provide a list of all the theatres that have signed up to the program, for example), but without success.

I wonder if other people find this? I have been to both web addresses given for the DCSF and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and neither have given me any more information. Sure, the former has a little video that tells you the potential advantages of signing up to the recruitment scheme. But could I actually sign up as a teacher looking for a job? Not anywhere I could see. Could I get an idea of cost? Nope. Similarly, there were plenty of press releases about this plan to offer free tickets. But could I find names of theatres? Only three or four who may sign up. And how do I get these tickets? I still have no idea.

I have, however, left a couple of messages asking for more information, so I hope to bring you a list of theatres (should you be lucky enough to be aged 18-26, or should you know anyone who is) and some more about the new recruitment service later in the week.

Until then, enjoy the snow!

I’d like to draw your attention to the new Learning Outside the Classroom website.  I am a firm believer that children can often learn more when taken out of a formal environment than when sat behind their desks. But I also disagree with just popping outside or having days out of school for the sake of it. I believe that there should be a learning objective behind every trip, educational visit or whatever the school decides to call it, and that this learning should begin before going outside the classroom and also be followed up on return to school.

The LOtC manifesto seems to run along exactly these lines, and the website is fantastic. It is full of case studies, links to other websites (including, amongst many others, storytime outdoors, learning maths outside the classroom and the Growing Schools website).

Whilst LOtC is not solely about outward bound-style courses and team building exercises (there is strong emphasis on using any area that is not the classroom to deliver high quality lessons with excellent learning outcomes), there is now a Quality Badge, which is awarded to LOtC providers who meet a variety of quality indicators (including effective learning and safety). That means that schools can be sure that suppliers who hold the badge will deliver high quality experiences.

The website – and this I find particularly impressive – also has a series of CPD modules which include resource packs for delegates, instructions and advice for the trainer, and an extremely impressive introductory PowerPoint presentation to grab the attention from the outset. The activities are interesting and well thought out and the training practises what it preaches by ensuring that learning objectives are met and by taking the learner into a non-classroom environment to experience the power of LOtC.

There is training for teachers, school leaders, NQTs, Governors and outdoor professionals. There may well be others I’ve forgotten.

So get thee to the website!

 It only dawned on me recently that, when we selected the infant school for our kids, we hadn't actually looked at the junior school that it feeds into and that, seeing as they will be spending longer there than at the infant school, this was probably unwise. Anyway, last night the junior school had an open evening and I took my eldest along. And, boy, was I impressed! The head's presentation was far from slick - the remote broke down for the PowerPoint presentation and he had to keep bobbing up and down to move the slides on, and he only remembered to introduce himself a couple of minutes into his talk. But I think that says a lot - actually, he was more keen to tell us about his school and his children than about himself. He struck me as a really kind man who genuinly wanted the best for the children in his care. Everything he said was positive, everything was about building up children's self-esteem, everything was about the children.

The point at which he won me over completely was when he said; "We've tweaked the National Curriculum a bit. Well, actually, we've used it to suit our purposes." He went on to explain that, whilst the kids have full access to the NC, they are not bound by it. If a class shows a massive interest in, say, learning Russian, and the teacher can accomodate it, then they go with it. Despite this, SATs results (yawn) are excellent (I would argue it could also be because of this?).

The school is incredibly well cared for and well resourced - swimming pool, football pitches, library, ICT etc etc. The staff we met are friendly and approachable. They have links to about 8 countries, are committed to learning outside the classroom and have an excellent pastoral system. Yet, last year, when Ofsted made a (one day) visit, the inspector only deemed it a 'good' school with many outstanding features. The reason? SATs results had 'dipped' that year.

I have one question - what is more important? A positive learning experience that builds confidence and self esteem and teaches children to respect each other and their environment, or level 4 SATs? To me the answer is obvious.