Wellington Eagles get ready to soar with outdoor education

Fresh air is just as important as pens and pencils for pupils at the Wellington Eagles Primary Academy with the introduction of their new trim trail, the first step in a wider initiative across the school to harness the benefits of outdoor education.

The trail forms part of a space dedicated to taking pupils’ learning outdoors throughout the year and in the New Year over 100 saplings will arrive to be planted across the area.

The trim trail is made up of a collection of wooden equipment that encourages children to be active and develop their core strength and coordination.  In addition to being used for outdoor lessons in all subjects, the trim trail will also be used by the children during break times, as well as for other activities and PE.

Tom Butchers, Wellington Eagles teacher who has led the development of the trim trail, explained: “Being outdoors brings great benefits to learning and has been proven to help pupils’ attainment, as well as their mental health.  We’ve found that it also works really well with our pupils who have additional needs, or those with sensory and emotional needs, as they can experience more and engage with their lessons in a different way that is often more effective for them.

“By just changing the setting where they are taught, and by using the opportunities that being outside presents we can make the lessons much more interactive, with lots more hands-on opportunity to interact with nature, which can help pupils manage their emotions and promotes self-regulation.

“At the moment we’re working on how to adapt our curriculum to harness these opportunities, and going forward when we have the forest school up and running, we will be developing whole curricula around this.  Our pupils are really interested in the outdoors, and with the recent international focus on the environment from COP26 and ways to become greener and use renewable energy, our outdoor provision will help harness this natural interest and enthusiasm from them.”

The next phase of the outdoor education initiative will see the 100 saplings planted on the grounds and the addition of orienteering trails around the school, which is part of the Royal Wootton Bassett Academy Trust.  The orienteering trails will be themed around the core subjects of maths, English and science and will pose pupils with an adventurous way of supplementing their learning. 

Classes will also be undertaking projects around the new saplings, planting, maintaining and watching the trees grow.  The area will then also become a forest school, where pupils can learn outdoor skills, such as den building and bug identification, at the same time as developing the skills they learn in the classroom.

Wellington Eagles Primary Academy Head of School, Sarah Johnson-Motyl added: “The expansion of our outdoor education provision will bring a great number of benefits to our pupils and will allow them to embrace their learning and natural curiosity in a way the also promotes their wellbeing and mental health.  We’re looking forward to having this area fully up and running and seeing the children enjoy their time here even more.”

For more information on the Wellington Eagles Primary Academy, visitwww.wellingtoneagles.org.uk