Students spend up to 25% of their time – more than one day a week – in the school grounds. Despite this, many schools fail to exploit the potential of playgrounds and fields as a resource for learning and enjoyment.
Students playing in their school playground © Michele Turriani
Giving students opportunities to help design, change and take care of the school grounds has many benefits. As well as developing their design skills in a real context, it calls for leadership, teamwork and a willingness to take responsibility. The outcome – more effective and attractive outdoor spaces – can have a positive impact on attitudes, behaviour and learning.
We have collated a list of activities, organisations and resources for you to use with your students in creating authentic learning experiences using your school grounds.
Subjects: art and design, design and technology, citizenship, geography, science, physical education.
Cross-curriculum dimensions: community participation, healthy lifestyles, global dimension and sustainable development.
Initiatives: Learning Outside the Classroom, Every Child Matters (be healthy, make a positive contribution), Eco-Schools, Healthy Schools, PLTS (team workers, effective participators, creative thinkers).
Teaching activities
Map the grounds
Give small groups of students a basic map of your school grounds, showing buildings and other landmarks. Take them around the grounds and ask them to add different features to their map, such as trees, long grass, fences and paths.
Back in the classroom, ask the students to look at their maps and think about how the use of outdoor space could be improved. Is there enough space for play? Are there quiet areas where they can sit and read or talk quietly? Is there enough shade and shelter? Ask them to draw a map showing a new design for the school grounds that they think makes better use of the outdoor space.
The website suggests a treasure hunt activity that involves investigating and mapping the characteristics of the school playground.
Students building a school playground shelter © A&M Photography Ltd
Breath of fresh air
Would your school benefit from an outdoor classroom – an area where classes or smaller groups can gather together to learn?
Talk with the students about what is needed for an outdoor classroom. Encourage them to think about shelter from the sun, wind and rain. What sort of seating is needed? Does there need to be a whiteboard or tables? Challenge them to come up with design ideas for the classroom and, if possible, develop the best design.
Read how students at Appledore Community Primary School built a geodesic dome to use as an outdoor classroom.
Get physical!
Children who are active at playtime return to lessons refreshed and ready to learn. Providing a good environment for play – with different areas, equipment and playground markings – can make all the difference to levels of physical activity.
Get the students involved in the design of your playground. What type of activities do they enjoy most? Would they like to have different areas for different activities? How could playground markings be improved? What play equipment do they need? You could gather opinions through the school council or set up a playground improvement team to carry out a survey.
Read about The design of outdoor play spaces in Berlin.
Students grow plants in their school grounds © lydiaevans.com
Grow your own
Choose an area of the school grounds and design a garden to grow fruit and vegetables for the school canteen. Develop enthusiasm and ownership for the project by setting up a design team of students and adult helpers to develop ideas for the garden.
You could create a separate area for each year group and give them responsibility for looking after the plot and deciding what to grow. How will this change from season to season? Why is growing food locally better for the environment?
The Growing Schools Garden website includes ideas on how you can focus on food and farming in your school grounds.
On the fence
School fences tend to be functional structures, there for security or to separate different areas. However, with a little imagination they can become decorative as well as practical.
Ask your students to think about how they could create school fences that are both useful and beautiful. Could they redesign the fences and make new structures, perhaps using locally grown wood or recycled and scrap materials? Or could they decorate the existing fences, perhaps using them as a temporary display space for artwork?
For ideas on how to both design and decorate school fences, take a look at the Growing Schools decorating fencing instructions and the article, Defying the laws of graffiti|art69118].
Decorative wall at the Earthship Community Centre, Brighton © Alys Tomlinson
Helpful organisations and venues
Learning through Landscapes
Learning through Landscapes helps schools and early year settings to make the most of their outdoor spaces for play and learning. The LTL website includes news, resources and training all helpful for you to begin to use outdoor spaces.
Growing Schools
The Growing Schools initiative aims to give all children the opportunity to connect with the living environment. The website is designed to support teachers in using the outdoor classroom as a resource across all year levels and curriculum.
Birmingham Botanical Gardens & Glasshouses
The Botanical Gardens in Birmingham are home to the Growing Schools Garden, designed with the help of children from more than 30 schools. The aim of the garden is to show how teaching and learning can take place outside the classroom but within the school grounds.
Eco-Schools
School grounds is one of the nine key environmental topics focused on by the Eco-Schools initiative. Visit the website for ideas on how to approach the development of school grounds and access a range of helpful case studies.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust
The Trust offers a variety of wildlife-themed activities that schools can freely download to make the most of outdoor spaces. Visit the ‘education’ section of its website to access – topic include, introducing animals, ponds, habitats and human influences.
Alexandra park © David Cowlard/Urban Exposure
Teaching resources
Love School Grounds website
The Love School Grounds website – part of the Learning Outside the Classroom initiative – provides practical ideas for using the school grounds to promote learning and discovery, physical health, confidence, emotional well-being, community engagement and sustainability.
The Growing Schools Garden website
The Growing Schools Garden interactive website is full of resources, photographs, videos, case studies, instructions for class projects and useful links. As well as projects on school grounds you can find information on opportunities for exploring outside spaces on school trips and visits.
RHS Campaign for School Gardening website
The Campaign for School Gardening website encourages schools across the country to develop and use gardens as a way of teaching students about where their food comes from, the wider environment and the life skill of gardening, as well creating happier and healthier individuals. It is packed full of ideas for garden clubs, lesson plans, how-to-grow guides and much more.
Learning Outside the Classroom
The official website for the Learning Outside the Classroom initiative launched in 2006. The ‘school grounds’ section of the site includes a range of ideas and resources for teachers.
Grounds for Optimism
This awards scheme run by the Solent Centre for Architecture + Design, is designed to encourage secondary schools students to rethink their school grounds. The Grounds for Optimism website includes a range of resources to stimulate ideas for developing your school grounds.
School Grounds Development Guide
Lancashire County Councilhave a fantastic step-by-step guide freely available online to help schools achieve the most from their school grounds.
Go back to the Barmby on Marsh Primary School case study.
