Forest School/Outdoor Learning
What can children learn when the classroom walls are no longer the edge of the curriculum?
At Sikh Heritage Girls School, learning beyond the classroom is part of everyday education rather than an occasional enrichment activity.
Every pupil takes part in Forest School every week, throughout the year. Alongside this, teachers use our grounds, local environment, community and places further afield whenever first-hand experience can deepen learning.
A geography enquiry may mean collecting data outdoors; Science may involve observing habitats, weather or seasonal change directly; History may lead into the local community; Art may take girls to a gallery; and RE, Philosophy and Worldviews regularly brings pupils into places of worship and conversation with practitioners. Learning outside the classroom is therefore woven through the curriculum rather than confined to one subject.
This matters to us because children do not all have equal access outside school to woodland, gardens, cultural institutions, outdoor challenge or the natural world. At SHGS, these experiences form part of the education every girl receives.
Intent
Our approach combines weekly Forest School with a wider whole-school commitment to Learning Outside the Classroom.
Forest School gives girls sustained experience of a natural environment over time. Returning every week allows pupils to notice changes in weather, light, trees, plants, habitats and the ground beneath them as the seasons move on. They develop practical competence, make choices, solve problems and gradually take greater responsibility for assessing and managing appropriate risk.
Learning Outside the Classroom extends this principle across the curriculum. School grounds, local places, galleries, museums, places of worship, community settings and natural environments all become valuable learning spaces when being there adds something meaningful to pupils' understanding.
We want girls to become observant, practical and resourceful, with the confidence to learn in changing environments and real-world settings.
Weekly Forest School
Our Forest School programme runs every week and throughout the seasons, giving pupils continuity rather than a series of occasional outdoor experiences.
Sessions retain a learner-centred character, shaped by the environment, the weather and the interests and needs of the girls. At times, a natural connection with a class Driver Project provides a useful context or starting point, while still leaving room for exploration, choice and ideas that emerge during the session itself.
Over time, girls may build shelters and dens, climb and balance, work with natural materials, use tools, light and manage fires under close supervision, cook outdoors and investigate the living environment around them.
Supported risk is part of this learning. Pupils are taught how to notice hazards, listen to instruction, use tools responsibly and make increasingly sensible decisions about challenge. Forest School is carefully risk-assessed, but worthwhile experiences are not removed simply because they involve manageable risk. The Forest School Association similarly identifies regular long-term provision, supported risk and appropriately supervised use of tools and fire as features of good practice.
Weekly repetition allows competence to grow. A girl who initially needs significant help to use a tool, secure a shelter or approach a practical challenge can revisit that experience and gradually become more skilful and independent.
Learning Outside the Classroom
Across SHGS, teachers consider whether pupils will understand something better by experiencing it directly.
Sometimes the best way to understand a river, habitat, building, artwork, religious space or community is to encounter it rather than view it on a screen. Girls therefore learn within our grounds and wooded areas, in the local community and through purposeful visits further afield.
This approach is visible throughout the curriculum. Geography includes fieldwork and data collection; Science uses outdoor observation and investigation; local History draws on places and people; Art includes galleries and exhibitions; and RE, Philosophy and Worldviews brings pupils into contact with places of worship and the people who use them.
Outdoor contexts also give girls opportunities to apply what they know. Measuring, estimating, mapping, describing, recording, designing and problem-solving often take on greater meaning when pupils need to use them in a real setting.
Leaving the classroom is not the objective in itself. The experience must deepen knowledge, strengthen a skill or give pupils access to something that cannot be understood as fully from a desk. This reflects the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom's broad view of learning taking place in school grounds, community spaces, natural environments, religious buildings, museums and other real-world settings.
Gardening and Grow Your Own
Our wider outdoor offer also includes Gardening Club and Grow Your Own, giving pupils opportunities to sow, plant, tend and harvest across the seasons.
Girls learn that successful growing depends on soil, weather, care and time. Where crops are grown for eating, the journey from seed to harvest gives pupils a more direct understanding of food production and seasonality.
Gardening also teaches patience and responsibility. Plants need regular attention, and results are not instant or guaranteed. The RHS similarly promotes school gardening as hands-on learning that helps children develop growing skills and connect with nature.
Equity and Access
The breadth of our outdoor provision is part of our commitment to equity.
SHGS does not assume that every child will otherwise have regular access to woodland, gardens, galleries, museums, adventurous activity or opportunities to grow food. Weekly Forest School, curriculum fieldwork, visits and use of the wider environment ensure that these experiences are not dependent on a pupil's circumstances outside school.
Where additional support is required, tools, communication, clothing, adult guidance or the practical demands of an activity can be adapted while preserving the purpose and dignity of the experience. SEND should not mean exclusion from nature, challenge or practical learning.
The RHS itself notes that not every child has access to a garden or adults with horticultural knowledge, which is one reason school-based growing can be so valuable.
Impact
By the time girls leave SHGS, we want them to be confident learning in many different environments.
They should be able to observe closely, use practical tools with increasing competence, assess appropriate risk, solve problems, work with others and adapt when circumstances change. They should also understand more about the natural world because they have experienced it repeatedly across seasons rather than encountered it only through books or screens.
Through fieldwork, visits, Forest School, outdoor learning and community experiences, pupils learn that serious learning can happen in a woodland, garden, gallery, place of worship, local street or riverside just as meaningfully as it can in a classroom.
Research-Informed Practice
Our Forest School approach reflects the Forest School Association's principles of long-term, regular sessions in a natural environment, with learner-centred practice, progression and supported risk.
Our wider provision reflects the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom's emphasis on using places beyond the classroom for meaningful teaching and learning.
Gardening and Grow Your Own are supported by the Royal Horticultural Society's school-growing resources and guidance.
Selected References
Forest School Association. Principles and Criteria for Good Practice.
Council for Learning Outside the Classroom. Guidance on Learning Outside the Classroom.
Royal Horticultural Society. School Gardening and Grow Your Own resources.
