Let us introduce you to Pauline Bell who is an Outdoor Learning coordinator at St Thomas CE (VC) Primary School in Huddersfield.

Pauline has helped to run Empty Classroom Day in her school for three years now and loves to make sure the children are fully involved with the day. Pauline explains why:

“Learning and playing outside is an important part of my classes’ everyday life, we encourage them to be outside as much of the time as possible. But a whole day dedicated to being outdoors and away from the classroom is perfect for us. Every year I make sure we get signed up ready for the day and we are really looking forward to Friday 17 June.

“On the day my class will be outside for the whole event and there’s so much the children can do, the day is so versatile. You can take a normal class outside and use items and tools you can find there to help. For instance if we take a maths class outside and we are learning about different shapes, the children can look at the ground to find the shapes they need to help them understand. If they are taking part in a creative writing lesson, a great way to get those creative juices flowing is asking them to sit in a particular spot outside and just listen to the sounds that surround them, this really stimulates their creativity. Also we have a pond, so if they have a science lesson, they can investigate the pond life and record what they find. It’s also great for them to work outside for specific topics, for instance when they are learning about Vikings, what better way to learn than to be outside building a Viking shelter.

“Empty Classroom Day is a great focus and reminds children and adults about the importance of learning and playing outside, it’s healthy, stimulates their brains and highlights how much there is outside for them to learn from, and it’s all at our fingertips!

“We introduced being outdoors for more lessons a few years ago and they absolutely love it and can’t wait to get out there. They also understand the benefits to their lives too, being able to bring skills they learn outdoors, such as teamwork, back into the classroom.

“I would hope that every class in all schools gets signed up and involved with Empty Classroom day – it’s really important for children to spend time outdoors, not only because of the physical and mental benefits, it’s also a lot of fun!”

Pauline is also a level 3 trained Forest School Leader and has run Forest School sessions for the past 3 years budding KS2 children with KS1 children. This helps all the children learn outdoors but also the older learn to become responsible for younger children.

Sign up your school to learn outside on Friday 17th June Empty Classroom Day.