Outdoor learning in Urban Environments: fuelling skills development

Sarah Holyoake, Head of Early Years and Jenny McLeod – Deputy Head Co-Curricular (11-18), Stephen Perse Cambridge

 Spending time outdoors has well-established positive benefits for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, and informs their sense of environmental responsibility. However, children have become increasingly disconnected from nature, spending more time indoors and less time participating in nature-based activities.

At Stephen Perse Cambridge, we know the many cognitive and emotional benefits that spending time outdoors offers for our students. This is why we have a framework for learning outdoors that gives our students, from two to 18 years old, space to enjoy the natural world and explore their interests, while learning new skills and acquiring knowledge beyond the national curriculum.

The cognitive, emotional and academic benefits of learning outdoors

One of the biggest barriers to children and young people’s learning is a fear of being wrong, which impedes their desire to take risks. Helping children to develop the self-belief to have a go, independently explore their surroundings and feel comfortable engaging with their peers is important for their learning and academic success – no matter what year group they are in.

Being outdoors gives children and young people the freedom and space to try out something with fewer of the inhibitions they may associate with the more formal expectations of behaviour in many indoor places. The unpredictability of being outdoors is a factor in this – much as we would love to, we cannot control the weather and we cannot easily replicate the problem solving that poor weather initiates in a classroom. For instance, if one of our Early Years students is building a fairy house during Forest School and the rain washes it away, they develop their problem-solving skills by rebuilding and identifying ways to avoid repetition of the damage.

Outdoor learning, by its nature, also encourages collaboration and listening to other ideas. Most children love being outdoors, so it intrinsically motivates them as learners while building the foundational skills that are important for learning throughout their entire school experience – resilience, problem solving, creativity and computational thinking.

Nature-based learning and sustainability

Ensuring that children have a strong understanding of responsible consumption, climate change and protecting the environment is at the core of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While classroom activities can help children to make sense of their world and understand how they can have a positive impact, outdoor education can encourage all students to consider sustainability in new ways. Enrichment activities such as gardening help children and young people to consider responsible consumption of water and produce. Creating visual displays using bottles of rainwater and natural materials to illustrate clean and contaminated water sources, or structures using mud that can be flooded using water, encourages children to consider sustainable water usage. Experiential learning opportunities such as these reinforce children’s classroom learning on climate change, biodiversity challenges and extreme weather events, such as flooding, making them powerful tools to connect children with their learning with complex real-world issues.

Delivering outdoor education in an urban environment

While the benefits of nature-based learning are clear for all children and young people, they are especially important for those living in dense urban environments, where they may not be naturally exposed to the environmental challenges seen in more rural areas.

Whether it is creating a mud kitchen in a small space on campus, or utilising local green spaces such as parks, common land, or public gardens for visits, schools can be creative in how they approach outdoor learning for all ages. We are located in central Cambridge, but we are lucky to have access to the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, which our students visit regularly, as well as our own nature reserve and other local green spaces, including Coe Fen, Lammas Land and Parker’s Piece. Doing so ensures our students benefit from spending time in nature – physically, mentally and academically – throughout their week. Creating these outdoor spaces on campus has encouraged even more wildlife to visit our school; we use old tyres filled with mud as planters and to provide dedicated spaces for our younger students to dig for worms.

Facilitating nature-based learning at home

In the UK, more than 80 per cent of people live in urban areas. In a city like Cambridge – where Stephen Perse Cambridge is based – more than 20% of people live in apartments. However, even the smallest space can offer room for nature and a balcony can easily become a small garden with the use of birdhouses, planters and window boxes. Public parks and common land are perfect for parents looking to embrace nature-based learning and the sky is another natural resource that can be used for observation, reflection and discussion. Simple conversations about nature ignite children and young people’s curiosity and develop their creativity, all valuable skills for their academic career.

Outdoor education is an essential pillar of students’ learning, no matter how old they are. The important cognitive, emotional and social benefits of being able to learn, explore and spend time outside make outdoor learning a powerful way to equip students with the skills and attributes they will need for tomorrow’s world.

If you're thinking of buying something recommended by us, please go via the links on our pages. When you do this we may earn a fee which supports our editorially independent, family business.