Outdoor Classroom Day, on the 5th November, is a great opportunity to celebrate learning beyond the classroom. Schools might spend the day exploring habitats, investigating the weather, taking stories outdoors or making better use of their school grounds. It’s a chance for children and teachers to experience learning in a different environment, often discovering new possibilities in familiar spaces.
But once the day is over, how can we make sure outdoor learning continues?
With outdoor education being discussed in Parliament at the moment, it feels like a good time to consider how schools can make outdoor learning a more regular part of children’s education.
The Outdoor Education Bill
The proposed Outdoor Education Bill, introduced by Caroline Voaden MP, calls for children to spend at least 30 minutes outdoors during the school day, receive at least one outdoor lesson each week and have access to outdoor education experiences during their school years. Although the Bill has not become law, it raises an important question about the place of outdoor learning in schools. Should regular time outdoors depend on the enthusiasm of individual teachers, or should it be something all children can expect?
For many schools, the challenge isn’t a lack of interest in outdoor learning. It’s finding the time, confidence and resources to make it happen consistently alongside everything else teachers are expected to do. The good news is that regular outdoor learning doesn’t have to mean planning additional lessons or organising visits away from school. There are plenty of opportunities within the curriculum we already teach.
Start With What You’re Already Teaching
One of the simplest ways to make outdoor learning more manageable is to begin with the curriculum rather than searching for an outdoor activity. If you’re teaching measurement in maths, the playground offers opportunities to investigate perimeter, distance and height. A science topic on living things can include surveying habitats around the school grounds. In English, children might use chalk to create a large-scale story map, physically following a character’s journey as they retell the text. The outdoor environment can offer children opportunities to investigate, move, construct and explore ideas in ways that aren’t always possible indoors.
Of course, not every lesson will benefit from being outside. The important thing is to recognise when the outdoor environment can genuinely enhance what children are learning.
Make It Part of Your Routine
Outdoor learning is often associated with special events, themed days or occasional afternoons when the weather is particularly good. But it can also be built into ordinary teaching routines.
You might take your class outside for a short maths investigation each week, revisit the same tree throughout the seasons or regularly use the playground for geography fieldwork. These don’t need to be lengthy sessions. Even ten or fifteen minutes outside can provide worthwhile learning opportunities when there’s a clear purpose. Repeating familiar activities also helps children understand expectations and become more independent outdoors. Over time, the preparation and organisation become easier for teachers too.
If you’re looking to increase outdoor learning in your classroom, I’d suggest choosing one curriculum area and identifying a regular opportunity to take it outside. Start with something manageable and build from there.
Use the Spaces You Have
It’s easy to associate outdoor learning with woodland areas, wildlife gardens and purpose-built outdoor classrooms. While these are valuable, they’re certainly not essential. A playground can be used for large-scale maths, mapping, investigations into shadows or practical storytelling. A single tree can support learning in science, maths, art and history. Even a small planted area provides opportunities to observe seasonal change and investigate living things.
Take a walk around your school grounds and consider which parts of the curriculum could be taught there. You may find opportunities in spaces you’ve previously overlooked.
Make It a Whole-School Priority
Outdoor learning can be difficult to sustain when it relies on one or two enthusiastic members of staff. A whole-school approach can help make it part of everyday practice. This doesn’t necessarily mean introducing a new policy or creating additional work. Schools could begin by sharing successful outdoor lessons, identifying opportunities within existing curriculum plans and ensuring staff feel supported to take their classes outside. Having a few agreed routines for using outdoor spaces can also help teachers feel more confident, particularly those who are less experienced with outdoor learning.
School leaders have an important role here too. When outdoor learning is recognised as a valuable approach to teaching the curriculum, rather than an occasional extra, it becomes easier for staff to prioritise it.
What Happens After Outdoor Classroom Day?
Outdoor Classroom Day provides a useful opportunity to try something different, but perhaps its greatest value is in what happens afterwards.
If an outdoor lesson works particularly well, could it become part of your regular teaching? If children become fascinated by something they’ve discovered outside, could you return to investigate it further? If a particular area of the school grounds proves useful, could other classes benefit from it too? Making outdoor learning a regular occurrence doesn’t require every lesson to move outside. It means looking for opportunities throughout the school year and gradually making them part of normal classroom practice.
This Outdoor Classroom Day, enjoy the opportunity to celebrate outdoor learning with your class. But before you head back inside, think about one activity, routine or approach you’d like to continue. A single day can introduce children to the possibilities of outdoor learning. Making time for it throughout the year is where the lasting benefits can be found.
