One of the great things about working at ISC is the opportunity for children to take their learning outside the classroom. Recently, Year 3 and 4 visited Pine Resort for our annual residential trip. There were many fantastic, adult-led activities...rope bridges, flying foxes, mats over water and balance beams, to name only a few. The children threw themselves into these activities, and it was great to see them supporting each other, working as a team to solve problems and managing risks. It was also really interesting to watch what the children chose to do during their independent time. At the end of a very active day, the adults thought they might want to rest indoors for a bit – but no! They chose to run under the pine trees, playing tag or stuck-in-the-mud and building creations from sticks and leaves. This led me to reflect on the fact that children’s learning doesn’t all happen inside four walls; in fact, the development of many critical skills and competencies is much better suited to outdoor play and learning than to the classroom.
The World Health Organisation guidelines recommend that children aged 5-12 should get a minimum of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day, with extra time providing additional health benefits. Children who are outdoors are naturally drawn to active play – they run, jump, skip, roll, spin and climb. The outdoor environment at ISC provides a wonderful space for the children to engage in these
important activities, which support cardio-vascular health, physical strength, coordination, balance, agility and general well-being. Healthy development of the large muscles in the body is also strongly connected to fine-motor development, crucial for skills such as hand-writing. There is also evidence that exposure to outdoor light helps to prevent nearsightedness. But it’s not just physical health that improves: research suggests that playing and learning outdoors relieves stress, helps manage emotions, promotes intellectual and cognitive development, develops social skills, fosters creativity and provides opportunities for problem solving.
When children play and learn outside, they instinctively make many decisions about assessing and managing their own risks, essential skills they will need for the rest of their lives. They are required to organise, sequence and cooperate. The children and teachers at ISC are fortunate that the ethos of the school values and promotes outdoor learning. I love to get the children outside, playing team-building games, spotting patterns or fractions, sketching, sorting, measuring...and besides all the learning and development that’s possible outdoors, it’s fun!
“The best classroom and the richest cupboard is roofed only by the sky.”
- Margaret McMillan
