Outdoor Learning in Nursery
Having recently been on a training day with Alice Warren at Wild Sparks I will be endeavouring to develop ‘Outdoor Learning’ for our children, along with the nursery team. As you may be aware there have been small changes happening to our outdoor area as we add more opportunities for children to explore both numeracy and literacy. Further development of Curriculum for Excellence will look at Health and Wellbeing aspects of learning with the role of staff to balance the risks against the benefits and have the children the main focus of the risk-benefit assessment process.
We will be creating daily, sometimes messy and cold (sometimes hot!!) experiences in outdoor play and the natural environment that we are lucky enough to have within our grounds. We are encouraged by parents who have been positive in their feedback of the physical skills their child has been building on and on how they are making sense of changes in the seasons. Many thanks to the parents who have kindly donated seeds, tyres and to B and Q for laminate worktops. Staff will ensure that children are appropriately dressed, whether it’s hot or cold. I am confident that parents will continue to support this venture.
Terri Scott
Care Inspectorate statement on risk in play, “The Care Inspectorate supports care service providers taking a positive approach to risk in order to achieve the best outcomes for children. This means moving away from a traditional deficit model that takes a risk-adverse approach, which can unnecessarily restrict children’s experiences attending registered services, to a more holistic-benefit model. For example, we encourage services to use risk assessment to support children to enjoy potentially hazardous activities such as woodwork, using real tools, exploring nature and playing in the mud and rain. We do not expect written assessments to be carried out for daily play activities.” 30 October 2015.
For further information please have a look at this inspiring document: My World Outdoors - http://www.careinspectorate.com/images/documents/3091/My_world_outdoors_-_early_years_good_practice_2016.pdf
Having recently been on a training day with Alice Warren at Wild Sparks I will be endeavouring to develop ‘Outdoor Learning’ for our children, along with the nursery team. As you may be aware there have been small changes happening to our outdoor area as we add more opportunities for children to explore both numeracy and literacy. Further development of Curriculum for Excellence will look at Health and Wellbeing aspects of learning with the role of staff to balance the risks against the benefits and have the children the main focus of the risk-benefit assessment process.
We will be creating daily, sometimes messy and cold (sometimes hot!!) experiences in outdoor play and the natural environment that we are lucky enough to have within our grounds. We are encouraged by parents who have been positive in their feedback of the physical skills their child has been building on and on how they are making sense of changes in the seasons. Many thanks to the parents who have kindly donated seeds, tyres and to B and Q for laminate worktops. Staff will ensure that children are appropriately dressed, whether it’s hot or cold. I am confident that parents will continue to support this venture.
Terri Scott
Care Inspectorate statement on risk in play, “The Care Inspectorate supports care service providers taking a positive approach to risk in order to achieve the best outcomes for children. This means moving away from a traditional deficit model that takes a risk-adverse approach, which can unnecessarily restrict children’s experiences attending registered services, to a more holistic-benefit model. For example, we encourage services to use risk assessment to support children to enjoy potentially hazardous activities such as woodwork, using real tools, exploring nature and playing in the mud and rain. We do not expect written assessments to be carried out for daily play activities.” 30 October 2015.
For further information please have a look at this inspiring document: My World Outdoors - http://www.careinspectorate.com/images/documents/3091/My_world_outdoors_-_early_years_good_practice_2016.pdf
