At The Gates Primary School, We are passionate about ensuring that our children experience a love of being outdoors and recognising its potential to support our learning, wellbeing and physical health. Such is the commitment of the school to continue to utilise this as an additional learning space, it is a key part of our School Improvement Plan for 2026-2027.
Our drive for outdoor learning is embedded throughout the whole school. Children across all age groups access outdoor learning opportunities, with experiences carefully linked to the curriculum and used to enrich learning across a wide range of subjects. From exploring the natural environment and developing geographical fieldwork skills, to investigating scientific concepts, creating art, developing physical skills and working collaboratively, our outdoor spaces provide an exciting additional learning environment. Our school is working various agencies to support its drive for improvement and provide further opportunities for its children. The school are working with Bolton's Physical Activity Community Facilitator to embed 'Five Ways, Happy days to become an accredited school. We are also Bolton's Pilot School for their Food Waste Toolkit and will be sharing our practice with other Bolton schools and development with Bolton's Public Health Specialist.
Strengthening Our Outdoor Learning Practice
Our staff bring a strong range of knowledge, skills and experience to our outdoor learning provision. We ensure outdoor learning is purposeful, engaging and accessible across the school. Staff have undertaken specialist outdoor learning training, strengthening our shared knowledge and giving us a wide range of skills to bring learning beyond the classroom.
Our training has focused on how to closely link outdoor learning with our curriculum, ensuring that time spent outside has a clear purpose and contributes meaningfully to children’s learning and development. We carefully consider how outdoor experiences can enhance and extend classroom learning, while providing children with opportunities to explore, investigate, apply knowledge and develop practical skills in real-world contexts.
We will also be enhancing our staff CPD offer through support from Learning through Landscapes who will be providing training on how to effectively use our outdoor learning spaces for EYFS, KS1 and KS2 across the curriculum.
Our approach is inclusive and considers the needs of all of our children, with particular thought given to ensuring that children with SEND and vulnerable children are fully involved and able to access and benefit from our outdoor learning opportunities. We consider how outdoor experiences can support individual needs, build confidence and provide alternative ways for children to engage, communicate and demonstrate their learning.
We are also incorporating Teach Active approaches into our practice, using movement and physical activity to enhance teaching and learning. This supports our commitment to delivering the highest quality teaching and learning, while recognising the benefits that being active and learning outdoors can bring to children’s engagement, concentration and wellbeing.
Our school is working with Bolton's Inclusive and Active Education Specialist to become an accredited Active School- one of a small number of schools in Bolton who are commitetd to improving health and educational outcomes for our children. This work will complement our Active travel initiative 'School Streets', our position as a trial school for Move Makers and our active dinner and playtimes.
We value the expertise within our staff team and encourage colleagues to share ideas, experiences and good practice. Together, we continue to broaden the opportunities available to our children and make the best use of our school grounds and local environment.
Developing Our Grounds
We are continually developing and enhancing our school grounds to create exciting, purposeful spaces where children can learn, play, explore and connect with nature.
Our developing outdoor provision includes areas such as Design and Build Area, a Daily Mile route and new planters, alongside our Community Garden, Wonderwood grove and other outdoor learning spaces. We want our grounds to provide children with opportunities to be active, creative, curious and independent.
Our current Eco Team is proudly caring for our developing orchard, which was planted with support from The Orchard Project. Dedicated Orchard Guardians have been appointed to help nurture the young trees, ensuring they have the best possible start and flourish for years to come. We look forward to the orchard providing an abundance of fruit for our school and local community, while also becoming a peaceful outdoor space that promotes wellbeing, learning, relaxation and a deeper connection with nature.
Our Gardening Club plays an important role in helping children to develop a sense of responsibility and ownership of our outdoor environment. Throughout the year, children from across the school have the opportunity to take part in Gardening Club, getting their hands in the soil and learning how to plant, care for and nurture living things.
Children plant a variety of plants, bulbs and vegetables, learning about what plants need to grow and how our environment changes throughout the seasons. They return to their planting throughout the year to water, weed, care for and observe their plants, developing an understanding that caring for our environment is an ongoing responsibility.
We are also continuing to enhance and enrich our outdoor environment, with a particular focus on increasing biodiversity. We are introducing wildflower areas and creating safe habitats, including hedgehog houses, to encourage a wider range of wildlife to thrive within our school grounds.
These experiences help children to develop practical skills, patience, teamwork and a sense of pride in their school grounds, while also supporting our wider commitment to sustainability and caring for the natural world. We enhance our delivery of learning about the natural world through project work and collaboration with other agencies such as: The Orchard Project, the RHS, The Woodland trust and Bolton's Playing for Success.
Forest School
All year groups have accessed, and continue to take part in, Forest School sessions. These sessions take place within our wonderful Community Garden, providing children with a dedicated space to explore, investigate and learn through hands-on experiences.
Our Forest School provision is delivered by a trained external Forest School provider, who works with children across the school to develop their confidence, independence, resilience and connection with the natural world.
Forest School provides children with opportunities to take appropriate risks, solve problems, work collaboratively and develop practical skills. It also gives children the freedom to explore their own interests and learn at their own pace in an outdoor environment.
Muddy Mondays in EYFS
Our youngest children have a special opportunity to develop their outdoor learning through Muddy Mondays. These sessions are led by Miss Davies, a qualified Forest School practitioner, and are designed specifically to meet the needs and interests of our Early Years children.
Each session provides opportunities for children to learn through exploration, play and first-hand experiences. Our Muddy Monday’s programme covers a wide range of themes and skills, including:
-
Minibeasts – searching, identifying and observing creatures in their natural habitats
-
Seasons and change – noticing and discussing changes in the natural environment
-
The five senses – using our senses to explore and describe the world around us
-
Gross motor development – climbing, balancing, moving, carrying and navigating outdoor spaces
-
Growing and plants – planting, caring for and observing growth
-
Our environment – learning how to care for, manage and take responsibility for our outdoor spaces
-
Map making – developing spatial awareness and creating simple maps of familiar environments
-
Arts and design – creating natural artwork, including story sticks and other creations using materials found outdoors
-
Exploration and investigation – asking questions, making observations and discovering how things work
-
Practical skills – developing independence and confidence through hands-on outdoor activities
Through these experiences, children are developing far more than their knowledge of the natural world. They are building communication, confidence, resilience, independence, physical development, problem-solving and teamwork skills.
Supporting the whole child
We recognise the important relationship between outdoor learning, physical health and mental and emotional wellbeing. Time spent outdoors provides children with opportunities to be active, experience nature, regulate their emotions, develop friendships and build confidence in themselves and their abilities.
Whether children are investigating a minibeast, navigating a map, working together to solve a problem, planting a seed or simply enjoying time in nature, our outdoor provision gives them opportunities to learn in ways that complement and extend their classroom experiences.
At The Gates Primary School, we want every child to develop a curiosity about the world around them, a respect for their environment and the confidence to explore, question, create and learn outdoors.
We are genuinely excited about enhancing the experiences of our children and also believe that 'They are not just playing in nature, they are: learning, creating, sensing, believing, relaxing, exploring, observing, wondering, connecting, discovering, appreciating, understanding, experimenting....' (Penny Whitehouse).