Children who are attending Bader Primary School now have access to a brand new outdoor area which has been completed recently.
The school values outdoor learning incredibly highly as they have seen the positive impact which it has had on a child’s early development and wellbeing. Not only this but the EYFS curriculum states that young children must have access to outdoor spaces. Being outdoors provides endless opportunities for children to develop and a range of experiences which help them to access different aspects of the curriculum. It supports the development of their gross motor skills providing opportunities which allow children to refine and extend.
The school believes in providing an inspiring outdoor space, with high quality learning experiences that allow children to flourish. By getting children outdoors and experiencing the natural environment they are looking to improve their communication and language skills. Children who learn outdoors communicate differently with freer, louder ‘outside’ voices and are enthusiastic to share and talk about their discoveries. This provides opportunities for their children to explore the world around them and to learn and practise using a wide range of vocabulary.
For this project the school wanted to create an outdoor space which encouraged children to run, jump, climb, balance, explore and most importantly they wanted a unique space which was different to the indoor spaces within the school.
This learning environment also helps children to explore personal risk, whether how high they choose to climb on the climbing logs, how close they get to woodlice and spiders, feeling damp leaves or squelchy mud on their fingertips and walking across wet moss covered rocks in the river bed. This all allows them to become natural leaders through making dens, organising others, become experts at noticing and commenting on the change in the seasons, and develop respect for the environment that they live in.
Charlotte Ferens, a nursery teacher at Bader Primary School commented:
“In the Early Years at Bader, we believe in providing children with a safe and stimulating environment where they can be themselves. We pride ourselves on listening to children and those who care for them and using this information to personalise each child’s learning.” It is these values which they kept in mind whilst building this area, she continued: “early Years at Bader is based strongly around the needs of our community, whilst following the principles of the EYFS. Our curriculum is designed around a language rich environment and aims to develop the foundations for excellent communication skills.”
Chris Zarraga, Director of Schools North East, said:
“Outdoor areas are vital when a young person is developing their cognitive and communication skills. They also provide children with experiences that they may not be able to access in their home environments. This is an incredibly valuable investment and from the photos provided by the school is an area which the children thoroughly enjoy using.”
Bader Primary School is a Schools North East Partner School. If you’d like to find out more about our Partner School Programme click here.
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