St Josephs Catholic Primary School

“The best classroom and the richest cupboard are roofed only by the sky.” Margaret McMillan 1914

This quote resonates more so today where outdoor learning, being in the fresh air and having space can have such a real positive impact on children’s well being and development.

In today’s world, children’s mental health, protecting the environment and global warming has never been more prominent. Nature based learning is a growing phenomenon but we have minimal natural stuff in our school!!! Our school is fabulous but we have no grassed area and even our annual sports events take place on the school yard. We would love to further create a Forest School environment to benefit our children as we know that being outdoors and “forest school” experiences support children in so many ways.

As a Reception teacher at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, I wish to continue developing our outdoor provision and use it to support learning across all areas of the Early Years Framework. It would be wonderful for our Reception children to work collaboratively with older members of their school family to design, create and develop their own sensory garden, bringing in greenness and nature and see it develop over the years throughout their school journey. With funding, we would look at designing and creating a sensory themed garden with the children, so that they can learn more about their senses and how they can use these to find out more about the world around them.