We are blessed at Pinewood to have 84 acres of grounds to explore and embrace, and we make the most of this whatever the weather! Our Pre-Prep garden and Squirrel Classroom are at the heart of our outdoor learning experience, and a woodland project and nature trail provide ongoing opportunities to explore the natural world across all curriculum subjects. There are not many days when you will not see the children dressed in wellies and boiler suits, out exploring the grounds.
The Reception and Nursery classrooms open out onto an exciting and stimulating outdoor learning area, resourced with equipment that extends the Early Years curriculum. This outdoor area is used year-round.
Real-life, active ways of developing skills, fostering emotional and social understanding, help to give real meaning to learning. We recognise the importance and benefits of a curriculum that extends far beyond that of a classroom and nowhere is this more evident than in the Pre-Prep and Early Years.
Gardening is very much part of our Learning Outside the Classroom programme in Pre-Prep, and a part of our Out & About after school club. We have our own Pre-Prep polytunnel where the children work together to grow produce, learning what plants need to thrive. The children relish time spent in the whole school Kitchen Garden, as a chance to see the journey from seed to fork, with the produce featuring in their daily lunches. A hotly contested potato growing competition takes place between the Pre-Prep classes, with the potatoes weighed at harvest time to declare a winner… before everyone celebrates with roast potatoes at lunch the next day!
As well as visiting workshops (such as Year 2’s Great Fire of London Day, visits by authors or a whole Pre-Prep Junk Orchestra workshop), trips away from school are also an important part of learning outside the classroom – sometimes just the coach ride is excitement enough! To tie in with their current topics, Pre-Prep children can be found visiting a local farm, a wildlife park, a historic house or learning about food production at Pizza Express.
