Primary 3 at Creation

All of the pupils showed an interest in travelling to the skate park. As we got to Creation the pupils gathered together and was each given a scooter and helmet. The teacher went through the outdoor ed rules and safety instructions of no swearing, being mindful of other people, keeping the helmet on at all times when using the scooter.

All of the pupils had a go on the scooters and took it in turns to swap their scooter with their peers. The pupils worked together in small groups and as a class by encouraging their peers to join in. The pupils also enjoyed riding up and down different sized ramps and demonstrating to their peers what tricks they could do. On the way back to school all of the pupils as a group showed their interest in returning to the skate park on another outdoor ed lesson. The pupils discussed what parts they liked and if they had been on a scooter before. One of the pupils said "I do wheelies on my scooter at home". The pupils continued to talk about their past experience of taking their scooter to a skate park which wasn't fair away from where they lived and how they use to go with their friends from around their house". Another pupils identified one of the ramps as "I really liked the big one because you could go really high".

sailing with Year 10 and 11

 

Two of the pupils went off in the sail boat working together to steer the boat and sail in a variety of directions while the small group enjoyed talking about the sights they could see on the speedboat as well as shouting encouragement to their peers such as "pull the sail into your body" and "you need to duck your heads or the sail will hit you". Throughout the lesson the pupils in the sail boat showed an interest in directing themselves with some staff support to different coloured balls which were placed all around the lake. Halfway the pupils said "can we do a cap side". The teacher relayed instructions of stand up in the middle to unbalance the boat and then as the pupils were in the water, the teacher continued to advise them to work together to swim to the back of the boat and push the centre board up to turn the boat upwards, and then to swim to the end of the boat as they helped one another by one pupil pushing behind and the other using their arms to pull themselves up to the middle of the boat. We asked for the pupils feedback on what they thought of going into the water and one pupil said "it was fun but very cold".

After we went back to the shore to eat our lunch and then as a group the teacher took them back out in the speedboat to go as fast they could all around the lake. To finish off the lesson two of the pupils had a go and jumping into the lake.

walk along the canal to the harbour with Year 8

At the start of the lesson the pupils showed an interest in taking a football with them to play a game of football when we got to the park on the other side of the canal. When we got to the canal all of the pupils walked well staying away from the edge of the canal with one pupil saying "if you go too close then you could fall in and you will have to swim". As we were walking one of the pupils was carrying the football when they asked "do you think the football will float or sink". We talked about how the ball wasn't heavy enough to float because it weighs less than a duck. The pupil continued to ask "why does the duck float". As a small group we discussed that the duck weighs heavier because of it's fur. The pupil explained "it is also because the duck takes it a lot of air so it makes it expanses and get's fatter and that's why it doesn't sink". 

As we got to the harbour we talked about how many boats the pupils and staff thought there were. One pupil said "I would say like 100" when another expressed by pointing in the direction of the boats to count them "I think there might be about 40 to 60". When we got to the park the pupils enjoyed playing on the spinning tea cup, merry go around and worked together as a team to see who could spin on the apparatus the quickest in symmetry with their peer who tried to see how high off the ground their feet could go.

DoE award sailing with Year 9

The pupils showed an interest in each having a go at sailing the boats.

The pupils listened as the teacher went through the safety rules and demonstrated how one pupil was going to steer the boat such as move the pole near to you to go right, pull the pole away to turn left and keep it in the middle to go straight and another was going to put the sail in tight to go quick and leave it loose to go a bit slower. The teacher also showed how the pupil steering the pole should move to the other side of the boat to level the balance when going in different directions with further instruction to keep their head down so they don't get hit by the sail. Then all of the pupils went out together in the speedboat to the destination they were going to sail around. 

When they got to their destination, the pupils got themselves into pairs and had a go at steering the pole and directing the sail as they worked together to sail to a variety of different coloured balls which were floating along the river. One of the pairs started to go really quick, they began to react well with one pulling the string tight towards their body as the other pupil was using their one hand to hold onto the side of the boat saying to their peer "oh my god we are about to fall in, quick turn the sail the other way". 

At the end of the lesson all of the pupils with staff guidance sailed back to shore where one of the pupils supported their peers along with a staff member to attach the rope to a clip which stopped them from drifted off so they could get off one at a time. 

Year 7B creating tricks on ramps at Creation

 

All of the pupils showed an interest in having a go on a scooter with one pupil asking "can we go down the big and small ramps like we did before". When we got to Creation all of the pupils kitted themselves with a safety helmet and said "this is to protect my head". The pupils gathered in a group as the teacher asked what some of the outdoor ed rules are. The pupils identified "no swearing", "keep two metres away from other people" and "keep your helmets on at all times". The pupils enjoyed demonstrating their tricks of doing little hops on the scooter and putting one foot on the back wheel to stop themselves quickly as the pupil talked about their past experience of "yeh I do this all of the time on my bike and scooter at home" as well as seeing how fast they could travel along, or one side to another, a variety of different sized ramps. After some of the pupils had a go at sliding down one of the big ramps using their hands to push off and their bottoms to slide with one pupil saying "It is like I am going quick down a slide". 

walk along Worcester canal with Year 7A

The pupils enjoyed exploring the Worcester canal while they identified what surroundings they could see with one pupil saying "look there are two ducks". While we were walking a staff  member and pupil talked about how many boats they thought would be when we got to the harbour. The pupil said "I think between 50 and 60". As we walked past the harbour the pupils showed an interest in exploring the park while they each had a go on the swing equipment and the obstacle course. The pupils worked together as a team by one pupil offering their hand to help their peer achieve the goal of getting to the top of the small rock-climbing wall. 

Walking back to the minibus the pupils saw a boat coming towards the gate as they described the size of it "wow that is really big" and showed an interest in helping to open the gate to watch the boat sail through. The pupils took it in turns to ask questions of "why does the water go down when the boat comes through". The woman explained for the boat to sail along the water it has to be level but when the boat goes past the gate the water travels to the ground  to go back into the canal". They listened as the woman demonstrated to them as a group what direction to push the gates to open and then encouraged them to pull it shut. 

After the pupils had helped we asked if they enjoyed opening and closing the gate and watching as the boat floated to the ground and sailed away. The feedback was positive with one pupil saying "I liked watching how the boat sunk with the water because one minute it was the height of the gate and the next it wasn't".

Primary 1 in search of a climbing tree

The pupils showed an interest in walking to the top of the hill at Hartlebury Common. While we were walking the pupils enjoyed creating footprints in the sand and as they got to the top they talked about what sights they could see. One pupil said "look I can see the minibus from up here" when another pointed and said "look at all of those trees and there is where we started". We continued to walk as the pupils chose how they were going to travel from one end of the field to the other such as having running races to see who would get there the quickest. One of the pupils shouted to their peers "look there are puddles". All of the pupils had a go at either walking through or jumping in and out of the puddles. As we started to navigate our way through the bushes and muddy paths we found the big climbing tree where a group of the pupils showed an interest in climbing when the other half played a couple games of imposter.

walk along the Worcester canal with Primary 2

The pupils showed an interest in walking along the Worcester canal as they talked about what sight they could see such as "look there are ducks swimming". Before we started to walk the teacher asked how many boat the pupils thought there would be at the harbor. The highest number the pupils identified was "19" and the lowest number was "2". As we got halfway along the canal the pupils saw a boat and stopped to look and talk about the size. One pupil said "wow look how big it is". 

A man helping the boat travel spoke to the pupils about where they had travelled before and where they were going next. They also asked the pupils if they would like to have a go at opening the gate for the boat by pushing the lever. The pupils enjoyed working together as a group to use all of their strengths to push the lever all the way to the edge of the canal. 

After we had walked all along the canal to reach the harbor we looked at the boats and concluded that there was about 50 or more altogether. Walking past the boats to the end of the path we saw a big field which led to a park. The pupils enjoyed exploring the various equipment's and obstacle courses.