At Christ Church Outdoor Education is one of our curriculum drivers. We believe that learning outside the classroom contributes significantly to raising standards by providing pupils with opportunities to develop personally and emotionally. We are fortunate to have a wide variety of outdoor areas in our extensive grounds, including a dedicated Early Years outside space, a Forest School site, a wildlife area, a garden for Year 6 and plenty of outside space for reflection and storytelling, which we use effectively to enhance our curriculum. The grounds can also be transformed by our imaginations in to many other places. Early Years Foundation Stage and younger KS1 pupils use their outdoor learning space, which has a covered area daily, except in extreme weather.

In Key Stage 1 and 2 we exploit every opportunity to use our school’s outside environment for learning. For example, in science measuring shadows, studying plant life in the hedgerow, or forces on the playground, studying physical features of the landscape in geography, looking at local buildings in history.

We have invested in our staff training: Amy Martin and Will Brotherton are both Level 3 Forest School trained and Rachael Fortune is Level 2 Forest School trained.

Seating areas, equipment such as climbing frames, goals and nets and small play equipment such as bats, balls and skipping ropes allow for a variety of activities, both energetic and contemplative , to be undertaken in our outside spaces.

Quality outdoor experiences provide pupil with memories to treasure for life. We are committed to developing our outdoor education curriculum.  Parents can see how we link the outdoors to each topic theme on the curriculum grid we send home for each topic for each class each half term. For more information see our class pages.

Along with curriculum opportunities for outdoor education, we also offer residential opportunities at Arthog Outdoor Centre in Wales.