Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC)
Classrooms without walls
Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) has been an extremely valuable initiative since September 2020, when we received the Bronze Award recognition for our commitment to utilising space outside of the classroom to enhance all pupils learning experiences. Each class will plan across the curriculum for enriching educational experiences to take place in innovative spaces around the school i.e.: writing stories or art sketching in our outdoor open learning classroom, re-enacting trench warfare and showing empathy for soldiers from WW1, our edible playgrounds beds offer the chance to grow and harvest crops, our reading bus is an excellent space for tailored interventions and reading for pleasure and our local shops offer real life opportunities to calculate change and post letters. We also use our local community regularly to explore opportunities to learn in real life situations i.e. wildlife on the canal, surveying traffic and visiting our local church, Holy Trinity. We find LOtC allows children to step outside the traditional classroom setting and gain hands-on experience and real-life learning in the world around them. We have since gained the Silver LOtC Mark (September 2021) and currently awaiting assessment on our Gold bid.
There are many benefits of ‘Classrooms without Walls’, here a few of them:
- Improved academic performance and engagement.
- Enhanced social and emotional development of learners.
- Increased physical activity and appreciation of the natural world.
- Development of life skills such as teamwork and communication.
- Opportunities for personal growth and increased self-confidence.
- Develop a greater cultural understanding.
- Broadens horizons and raises aspirations.
Whether it is writing a story in the woods, working out the change in a shop or using a timetable at the bus station, LOtC offers an incredible opportunity for our students to grow, explore, and develop in ways that simply are not possible in the classroom. We are passionate about making sure that every child at Lyng Primary School has the chance to experience the world beyond the walls of the classroom, and to discover the joys of lifelong learning, whatever their age, ability or background.
By encouraging and supporting teachers to teach anywhere, children will understand that they can learn everywhere. Their learning will not be confined to desks and chairs in a classroom, but opened up to the word around them. Upon leaving our school, children will be confident, happy and always ready to learn.
Canals and river trust teachers discussing water safety, conducting bug hunts and identifying modes of transport in the local area with Year 1 pupils.
A pupil walking on the moon using freeze frame to capture the feelings and mood of the astronaut.
