A current development within the academy's curriculum is the utilisation of our outdoor environment in order to further enhance and engage learning. The academy upholds the belief that children and young people are stimulated by the outdoors and typically experience, over time, an increase in their self belief, confidence, learning capacity, enthusiasm, communication and problem-solving skills and emotional well-being. When learning outdoors children can develop their team working skills and also learn to become more independent.
Towngate Primary Academy endeavours to develop these skills alongside the formal curriculum through providing challenging learning which enables children to take risks to deepen their understanding and build their skills as learners.
Take a look at some of our outdoor learning experiences around our Academy:
This academic year we are working alongside an outside agency, 'Planting Seeds', where each year group will be taking it in turns to work alongside John to develop our outdoor areas around school. The children have identified areas that they feel need improving and worked collaboratively to develop these areas. We have developed certain areas to allow for planting and explored ways we can utilise the fantastic space we have around school.
During this time, the children are building upon their values based learning by working collabratively, building resilience, cooperation and determination. The children have shown creativity and leadership skills by taking ownership of our school grounds and sharing their ideas to make our school even more of a wonderful place.
Here at Towngate, we value the importance of school trips and the experiences these provide for children's learning outside of the classroom. Many of our school trips provide children with the opportunities to explore the outdoor environement and learn through hands on experiences.
Year 6 Residential
KS1 Harewood House
This trip encourages the children to explore nature, exploring the different types of trees and plants. Also, we learn and see first-hand aboout where our food comes from and how to look after your own fruit and vegtable patch!
KS1 achieved one of their promises whilst on this trip, "I promise you will explore the woods!"
Y5 Camping Trip