Wheatfield Primary School

Outdoor Learning

Our Aims and Rationale

At Wheatfield Primary School we are extremely fortunate with our outdoor environment.

Our grounds include a large onsite ‘Wild Wood’ forest, a sensory garden, a pond, allotments, a beautiful wild flower meadow and two large play spaces. We're very fortunate to even have our own Wheatfield chickens! We have many outdoor benches for flexible learning, as well as offering opportunities to eat lunch outdoors. Our play times are enhanced with equipment for both EYFS/KS1 and KS2. We also have a large field as well as an amazing 'all weather multi-use games area' which we fund raised for, as part of our 20 Year anniversary as a school. 

As an inclusive school with an underpinning ethos of ‘inspire to achieve’, we aim to offer our children the experiences of outdoor education as a tool to develop their skills both academically and holistically. Research shows that outdoor education and children’s access to nature positively improves self-esteem, physical health, development of language skills and their disposition to learning (Davy, 2009). At Wheatfield we aspire to engage children in exciting, stimulating and purposeful learning by using our school grounds, as a tool for teaching and learning through hands on experiences.

"Active play is the natural and primary way that children learn"

(Sir Ken Robinson, 2009)

“Teaching outdoors helps encourage curiosity and stimulates all the senses

in a way that indoor learning simply cannot do.”
(The Woodland Trust)

Our School Grounds

In September 2023, we were a finalist in the Avon Wildlife Trust's School Wildlife Gardening competition.  Although we didn't win, the judges were very impressed with the steps that we have taken to make our school grounds eco and wildlife friendly.  We continue to implement some of their suggestions to make the school and even better place for our little visitors!  Here are some of the pictures they took, courtesy of the Avon Wildlife Trust, credit George Cook.

Learning outdoors

Through our Curriculum offer at Wheatfield, we aspire to offer engaging and exciting opportunities to our children.

This includes providing 'real and rich' experiences across all subjects in our curriculum, as well by developing skills such as team work, resilience and responsibility.

Outdoor learning gallery more photos below...