ACTIVE & OUTDOOR LEARNING
At Long Lane we provide a variety of outdoor and active experiences that are both structured and child initiated.
Our active curriculum ensures that all learners are included and able to know more and remember more.
We offer a uniquely wide variety of outdoor experiences that are both structured and foster creative, active learning. This begins with our youngest learners, as the Rainbows enjoy their own learning garden filled with practical and engaging challenges.
We extend this active learning into Year 1 and Year 2 with our bespoke continuous provision offer which allows children to remain active and creative learners for a proportion of the day. Both Years 1 & 2 have their own active outdoor learning areas.
For the rest of the school, it is an essential part of our learning offer that all children are provided with opportunities for outdoor learning to continue into their unstructured time. During play and lunch children have access to a range of outdoor activities such as; Den building, creative areas, nature and music and building in our vast grounds.
We actively encourage and teach creativity, risk taking, problem solving and team building (including conflict resolution) through this provision, which promotes learning from our 7 Secrets of Success. Please click here to find out more about this programme.
The zoned areas of the playground have been carefully designed to ensure that children are able to pursue different interests, develop physical and social skills and support pupils with SEND to regulate and secure readiness to learn. You can find out more about our Learning through play philosophy here.
Learning through play at every stage
Child initiated learning plays a pivotal role in resilience, creativity, problem solving, independence and teamwork – not just in our youngest pupils but across all age groups. Our unique 'Learning through Play' outdoor environment and the schemes of work, active and outdoor approach to learning offers rich opportunities for children to build these skills and stay actively engaged in learning for every part of their day.
We explicitly teach creativity, risk taking, problem solving and teamwork: including how to navigate and resolve conflict through this carefully planned provision.
During play and lunch children can choose from a wide range of activities including Go-Kart racing, creative zones, nature exploration and Den building all set within our expansive grounds.
Forest School
Forest school is an excellent way in which to support children with real life skills and to pursue adventures that replicate nature and being in nature. This has many benefits, please see link to general info about the Forest School project.
At Long Lane we are able to offer this experience to our Early Years pupils (we have a fully trained practitioner) and are passionate about rolling experiences such as these to the wider school in the near future.
Rainbows class use a designated area in a small copse nearby the school but also access the developing forest school area within the school grounds and have been fortunate enough to visit and be supported by an established set up in a nearby school.
Find out more on our Forest School page.
Continuous Provision in Key Stage 1
The play based approach to learning is a key component of school life all the way through your child's time at Long Lane. We believe that chid initiated exploration has a place beyond the Foundation Stage curriculum. When children reach the end of Foundation Stage there is often concern about how they will cope with the demands of the new curriculum and the big change this expects.
At Long Lane we want to ensure that your child continues to benefit from child initiated experiences that allow them to use their imagination, take risks, work together and problem solve.
When your child reaches Year 1, although the curriculum content will change, the routines of the day including play based learning will be mirrored, meaning a smoother transition. We call this 'continuous provision'.
This will continue into Year 2, all the time introducing more challenge and structure in the play (with adults interacting) and will more intention and links to the Year 1 and Year 2 curriculum.
The amount of play based time will decrease as the children get older and the curriculum more involved. However, there are many opportunities to gain play based experiences after this through free play in our extensive play zones and within our active curriculum.
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Teach Active and active learning in and out of the classroom
The school values active learning in all subjects because we know that hands on, immersive experiences make learning truly meaningful and ensure that it sticks.
We start with ensuring that most activities are practical (learning through play) in our Early Years setting with a small number of adult directed learning for key skills. Our KS1 classes all have all weather play opportunities outside and we offer continuous provision for these classes, ensuring that learning through curiosity and own interests can be accessed to the end of KS1.
From Year 2 – Year 6 our children access the 'Teach Active' (please click here to find out more) programme (along side other practical learning tasks) to support English and Maths key skills. Wherever possible, the learning is taken outside, this may be through immersive experiences, experiments, using and exploring nature (Science activities) and each class has a number of external visit experiences as well as immersive days and visitors to enrich their classroom experience.
Please see details of our opportunities and experiences in and out of the classroom.
Theme Days, immersive
learning, visits and visitors
At Long Lane we value the experiences our children have with their learning and understand that these are key to engagement, enthusiasm and taking learning further. It is often when we experience history, geography, Science, and the world around us that the learning sticks and links to new ideas and understanding are formed.
Our active and immersive learning experiences in all year groups are what make learning fun, meaningful and are the 'hooks' with which learning can be 'hung'.
It is amazing to see the enjoyment and rich curriculum that comes from these regular experiences and I know that our staff enjoy them just as much.
