Outdoor Classroom Day

Last Thursday, 1/11,  was Outdoor Classroom Day, which Hackham East Primary School students and staff celebrated and took part in.  Over 300,000 students Australia wide and almost 3.5 million students worldwide took part in this event.  Outdoor Classroom Day also coincided with the opening of our new nature play space.   The nature play space was officially opened by Hackham East Primary School Principal, Ms Sally Slattery, Governing Council Chairperson, Aileen Winstanley and Member of Kaurna, Chris Picton MP.  The naming of the nature play space will go through a consultation process with students, staff and the wider school community.

Outdoor Classroom Day is a global campaign to inspire and celebrate outdoor learning and play.  All classes engaged in learning with a buddy class throughout the day taking part in learning activities such as poem writing, buddy reading, creating characters with natural materials, creating mandalas, engaging in a nature scavenger hunt, cubby building and of course exploring the new nature play space.

As has been stated before, learning  doesn’t just  happen within the four walls of a classroom.  The importance of outdoor learning and play can’t be underestimated to a child’s development.  Professor Guy Claxton, a leading expert in relation to Powerful Learning has 8 key words in his Powerful Learning Vocabulary.  They can be related to experiences that occur outside during  play/learning time as well as those that occur during inside learning times. 

Wondering – questioning, doubting, curiosity

Engaging – risking, persisting, applying

Explaining – noticing, researching, concentrating

Experimenting – tinkering, practicing, re-drafting

Imagining – rehearsing, dreaming, empathising

Reasoning – analysing, arguing, critiquing

Collaborating – listening, team playing, working together

Reflecting – planning, self evaluating

On Thursday our students, Reception to Year 7 and our staff through the engaging learning opportunities were most definitely in this ‘learning space’.

‘The mud kitchen was the best, I made lots of mud pies’ – Year 4 student

‘When can we go in the new playground all the time, it is the best’ – Year 6 student

‘I loved building cubbies with our buddy class’ – Year 1 student

Scott Megson, A/Deputy Principal