Erasmus Plus Project 'Outdoor Learning - Leading the Curriculum'

Our 2nd Erasmus Project has been an exciting 3 years. We have collaborated with partners from Italy, Sweden, Finland, Ireland and Crwys Primary. The aims and objectives from this project were to develop further understanding and knowledge of Outdoor Learning and develop innovative and exciting teaching and learning opportunities through a curriculum led focus. It was also to develop links to the global community and support pupils in their awareness of their own culture and others.

Our winning Logo was created by a pupil in Finland - it really captures the heart of our project 'Learning Outdoors'!

Here are some of the highlights!

VIRTUAL MOBILITY September 2020 - July 2022

The first mobility was virtual due to Covid and due to travel restrictions the visits took place online. These provided an opportunity to present and share ideas to teach the curriculum outdoors safely, to discuss differences between each partner school's experience during this time and for each school to showcase their involvement with outdoor learning experiences that are available to pupils both at school, within the local environment and during school trips further afield (where possible). Pupil's were also given opportunities to communicate with pupils abroad through observing their outdoor activities and communicating through email. 

TRIP 1 - MOBILITY TO ITALY September 2022

The trip to Italy took teachers from Gowerton, Crwys, Ireland, Finland and Sweden to Terrasini in Sicily.

As this was our 2nd project working together, there were old and new professional connections.

Here are a selection of training activities and cultural experiences that the staff experienced. 

Day 1  

We received a very warm welcome at a reception in the Town Hall with the Mayor and local director of education. We were presented with plaques to remember our visit and connections with this area of Sicily. Following this we went to the Palazzo d’Aumale for a ‘Welcome Ceremony’ presented by the Grade 5 and 6 pupils. They treated us to presentations showing their national dress, dancing, songs and traditions. During lunch we sampled traditional food from the area such as arancini and penelle. In the afternoon we met Grade 6 pupils who told us all about their technological project creating audio guides for local people and tourists to learn about buildings and landmarks in Terrasini. They were very proud of the work they had produced during the pandemic and we were impressed with their multilingual guides and knowledge of their culture and locality. Certainly an idea we can use in our school and local area in future to develop our ‘cynefin’ through creative use of technology.   

Day 2  

We enjoyed our educational visit with the Grade 5 students to the Gal Hassin Astronomic Centre in Isnello, the highest observatory in Italy. The bus trip provided opportunities to appreciate the beauty of the mountains of the Sicilian hinterland and we learned of the important contribution made by Sicily to the international research of transient objects in the solar system. The low light pollution and protection given by the mountains makes this area of Sicily an exceptional location to study the sky. The trip allowed students to study meteorites and the solar system as well as learning about old and new technology and ideas related to astronomy. They had opportunities to see how technology has changed and advanced over time for example from using the sun to create calendars, to using smart phones to control and navigate telescopes!

Day 3

We visited Palermo by bus starting with a guided tour of the Astronomic Centre located in Palazzo dei Normanni. We enjoyed seeing the views of the ancient city of Palermo from the roof and were interested to learn about the history of astronomy on Sicily in the museum of Astronomy. We then visited the Royal Palace museum, Palermo Cathedral and Monreale Cathedral and appreciated the information given to us by our guide about the rich cultural history of Palermo. We had opportunities today to discuss our approaches in the different countries to Science and Technology outdoors. For example we discussed staff to children ratios, use of iPads outdoors and the provision of ‘Enrichment’ clubs. 

Day 4  

We learned about the Bio-diversity of the local area during a boat trip with a guide from Capa Rama nature reserve. We saw ideas that we could utilise with our ‘curiosity cubes’ in class and discussed this with our Swedish colleagues.  They also have a ‘curiosity approach’ but the children are allowed and encouraged to touch and interact with objects inside the cube. This is something we should consider and possibly adopt once back in school. In the afternoon we returned to the museum Palazzo D’Aumale to join the Grade 5 students on a visit about the local biodiversity of the area.  

Day 5   

We visited the pupils at Instituto Comprensivo ‘Giovanni XXIII’. First we planted an orange tree as a reminder for the pupils of our visit. We then saw the children in their classroom environments where the children were engaged in various maths, science and language activities. Grade 5 students also presented their follow-up work from the astronomic centre. We then went to the Junior High School for our video ‘Teams’ meeting with the project leads to discuss this mobility and to plan future visits.   

We had a wonderful week in Sicily and really value and appreciate becoming a part of this international community. We have learned so much from our new friends and colleagues and have had many interesting and impactful conversations about teaching and learning in the outdoor environment. In particular we will take away with us the big emphasis from the other countries on becoming a ‘global citizen’. For example, the importance of learning international languages, making links with other professionals and schools and recognising our part in the worldwide community. With the introduction of the new curriculum for Wales we have realised that whilst it is important to recognise our roots and ‘cynefin’ it is also important for our children to see the bigger picture and our place and contribution to the whole world community. 

TRIP 2 - MOBILITY TO IRELAND November 2022

This trip took staff to Ballinisloe in Ireland. 

Monday 

We had a wonderful welcome from the staff and children at Eglish National School with a celebration assembly. We enjoyed performances from the children and exchanged gifts. The welcome message from the principal gave us an interesting insight to the history of the school and the local community. The school is a ‘Changemaker school’ and the children were keen to tell us that the 4 principles are: Teamwork; Leadership; Empathy; and Creativity. Every week the school celebrates the ‘Changemaker of the week’. This scheme made us think about how we can make contributions to our school and community and is a great way of celebrating children and adults who give their time and efforts. 

We accompanied the older pupils to Eglish Abbey and graveyard and completed a scavenger hunt related to local history. The children were fully engaged and found clues and answers with enthusiasm. Through this activity, we learned a lot about local significant people from the school history – for example the first headmaster, a rich landowner and a girl who worked in the house. This was a great way to share local history in a memorable way.  

We also learnt that this in depth local historical information came from an Irish Heritage project which created a cultural archive of local folklore, music and traditions from older communities in 1972. This was a national project where Year 6 pupils were asked to speak to older people in their communities to collect stories or songs. This is a wonderful idea to involve children in the archiving and preservation of local and cultural history and could be something for us to try in our school to learn more about our local community.  

Tuesday 

We visited Rathcroghan, the location of some Bronze and Iron Age archaeological sites and completed a guided tour of the museum, learning stories from Irish history, including the ‘Legend of Curhulainn’, the warrior Queen Maeve and about the ‘Cave of the Cats’. 

After our tour we visited the cave and Rathcroghan Mound to see how historical cultures and people have impacted the current landscape. This was a fascinating visit and reminded us of the importance of visiting historical sites to help understand stories with the first-hand experiences bringing them to life. We also noted similarities between Irish and Welsh Celtic history. 

In the afternoon we visited the National Famine Museum at Strokestown park. We followed a virtual tour and discussed how they can be a good idea for older year groups. Museum guides are also great ways to share and learn information; children could make their own guides for a local place or even our school e.g., for younger children/new children/visitors/website. 

To end our day, we went on a Nature walk through the grounds using our senses. Again, we followed maps and guides which the children would enjoy using/making. 

Wednesday 

At Eglish National School every outdoor learning session starts with grounding exercises; a form of mindfulness that allow the children to focus on the present. We joined the children with their exercises, and it was interesting to see the change in the children's demeanour. It is a great way to start any outdoor learning session in a focussed, calm and safe way. 

The children gave us a guided tour of their outdoor area. They took us to places of importance to them e.g., their mud kitchen, grandfather tree (where they share stories and poems), fairy garden, bonsai bunker and their ‘giant forest’. The forest was planted by the parents and children, and they now have 100 trees. The children had great interest and ownership over their forest; they had a fantastic knowledge of the tree names and what they need to do to look after them, all year round. During their tour, the children told us that they have a ‘Fresh Air’ after school club, which is all about enjoying being outside - playing, singing songs, having hot chocolate and telling stories. We thought that this would be a lovely idea to bring back to our school. 

Afterwards, the children shared a short presentation about the history of hurling, followed by a Kahoot Quiz to show what we had learned. Knowing there was the competitive, exciting element of Kahoot, learner engagement and motivation were increased. Kahoot is a great way to get instant learner feedback and assessment. Afterwards, we went onto the field and experienced hurling first hand. The children set up several ‘stations’ to teach us how to play the game. Their confidence, teamwork skills, and leadership skills shone in this task. To end the day, we created some pebble art for the sensory garden. 

Thursday 

On Thursday, we visited Galway City. We learned so much about the history of Galway during a visit to the museum, followed by a guided walking tour to visit historical sites around the city. Again, this reminded us of the importance of teaching the children about the local history around our school, and arranging visits to key, historical sites and museums around Swansea. 

Friday 

Meeting – arranged ‘Erasmus Christmas’ and dates for other mobilities, utilising the day to share ideas from the mobility to take back to our own settings. 

3RD TRIP - MOBILITY TO SWEDEN January 2023

This trip took colleagues to Molndal in Sweden.

MONDAY 

We were excited to arrive at Stretereds Förskola preschool and to meet specialist Movie Makers Barnfilmskolan in a special iPad workshop. Having an opportunity to discuss with film specialists the teaching of literacy using technology was incredibly interesting and presented us with lots of new ideas which can be used in every year group. The philosophy and approach to learning of Barnfilmskolan is always to ‘learn by doing first, then have a conversation about that learning’. They explained they find children are more engaged and willing to participate after an initial practical activity; children can be shy, unsure or reluctant if the discussion comes first. It was also interesting to learn about the very strict GDPR in Sweden (no photos of children at all) and the impact this has both on teachers in schools and during workshops. They had great ideas about how to teach children about these rules in a child-friendly way, demonstrated with a class of 4-5 year olds during an activity. They asked the children to take a photo of a friend…then asked ‘Did you ask permission?’ None of the children had done this and it allowed an open conversation in a context the children understood about the importance of permissions when putting photos or other information online or in a digital context. Barnsfilmskolan shared lots of useable ideas with us about how to use digital technology, specifically Movie making to enhance work in schools, particularly through Literacy and Health and Wellbeing as well as Internet Safety. Experience has shown them that movies are a good way for children to share feelings, worries, opinion etc. Movies allow children to share their ideas with no barriers (especially for children with language issues). They were very keen to emphasise the importance of creating time to talk about and reflect on the movies children make.  

We then enjoyed working with the children to make our own iMovies to share modern languages with our international community. Each pair of children took up to 5 pictures of items in book then used iMovie to record their voices saying the word in their own language. We will be making these movies when we return home to share the Welsh language with our European colleagues.  

After our workshop we accompanied a class on a walk to woods, it was great to see the independence of the children getting their outdoor clothes on and the behavioural expectations on the walk. The children were encouraged to take a free bag to collect litter they saw on the walk and they talked with enthusiasm about the importance of doing this.  

In the afternoon we enjoyed a tour around the school. The Learning environment was separated into smaller areas, lots of little rooms set up for different activities e.g. library, loose parts, creative, outdoors. There was a large emphasis on time spent outdoors and every class displayed visual timetables and symbols for sign language. All children were encouraged to use sign throughout the day to enable all children to communicate effectively, to decrease frustration and increase self- esteem. 

TUESDAY 

In the morning, the children were thoroughly engaged and excited during our walking activity to the ‘Book Bus’. The school clearly values languages and promotes a multi-lingual approach (very evident in their displays). A lovely idea they had is to share some words in languages spoken by some children at home for example they currently have children from France and Spain in class so have created a display of animals using photographs, multi-lingual labels and QR codes linked to voice recordings of the animal name in different languages. The school is proud to be a multi lingual, ‘Literacy School’ taking part in the ‘Literacy Profile’ scheme with a focus book per year. Today the ‘Book Bus’ came. The children followed a trail of circles on a walk leading us to characters from the book. For example we met and danced with ‘Disco Ken’ and then looked for circles on the book bus with another character from the story. Staff regularly dress up as characters from books they are learning about and take part in drama activities to answer questions asked by the children bringing literacy to life.  

In the afternoon Anna and Frida showed us some of their favourite ideas for developing literacy through outdoor learning. For example hanging a rope between trees and pegging pages from your class story on to it. Children love to tell the story together using the pictures. They had lots of different resources ready to take outside such as information cards, activity dice and mission cards. 

WEDNESDAY 

We took the train and tram to the ferry and enjoyed seeing the islands around Gothenburg. We walked around a trail on Vronga and discussed safety points taught to children about what to do in the woods if you get lost - hug a tree, do not walk around, stay still, hang things on the tree. We then explored Gothenburg city. 

THURSDAY 

During the morning we visited a middle school with 150 students with children up to age 7. Again we noticed a big emphasis on visual timetables and the importance of them. We noted that the setting was far more formal than the pre-school. We then walked to the top of the hill through the woods and learnt about foraging for mushrooms and how to use dried trees to start fires. 

FRIDAY 

We met at the Town Hall and had a very interesting talk from the Head of Pre-school Education Mette Myrin and Erica Goding from Preschool Organisation Molndal Stad. They discussed how the education system is organised in Sweden and some of their successes and challenges based on the data received from the Principals in pre-schools, dialogues, reports and parent and teacher questionnaires. We then had a great discussion about our own project afterwards. 

4th TRIP - MOBILITY TO FINLAND March 2023

Monday  

We took a local bus to Erasmus – Porvoon Kaupunk,i Jokilaakson Koulu school this morning and were interested to learn that is how most pupils arrive at the school themselves showing great time-keeping and independence at a young age. It was wonderful to arrive at the new school building and we loved the warm welcome and taking our shoes off to start school! We enjoyed a welcome assembly with musical performances by the children introducing us to a great app ‘Boomwhakers’ to support children reading music.  

Afterwards we were given a tour of the school and a presentation about the new curriculum for schools in Finland. The school has 130 pupils and 11 staff after the amalgamation of 2 smaller schools a few years ago (much like our school in Gowerton) and lessons are from 8:30 until 1pm, followed by optional lessons until 2:30. There is also an afternoon club for children run by outside agencies providing childcare if needed. The school is newly built and the staff had a lot of input to the School design. Each class has their own room but they also have a dividing wall that can be removed to join to 2 rooms/classes together. There is a big emphasis on this flexible design to assist teaching and learning. Each class also has their own smaller room (for up to 10 children - withdrawal room). The design includes lots of windows in each area making it easy to supervise children while giving them choice and flexibility about their own working environment. Acoustic roofs and soft floors/walls were incorporated into the design making the school calm and peaceful. 

We were interested to learn about the New ‘core’ curriculum 2019 for Finland and then to see how every municipality like Porvoo has independence to develop their own, more specific curriculum for all schools in the same area. This means arrangements for teaching skills, learning language, aims/content of subjects is decided by the municipalities and can differ between regions. Interestingly there are also no mandatory National tests but the municipality decides if they take part in tests. In Porvoo they do reading tests in the 2nd and 6th grades. (Sweden do have national tests but only in Grades 2 and 6). 

Tuesday 

This morning we joined pupils from pre-school, 1st and 2nd grade learning to code. Their teachers had created 10 stations to try different coding activities using resources borrowed from a central resource centre. We noticed the high levels of independence during the tasks here, for example the children had to read activities independently to follow the instructions (no ‘modelling’ of each activity before) however there were plenty of staff to support the learning. The children worked in pairs to ensure pre-school pupils had a ‘buddy’ to help. It was clear the children were used to working like this, we noticed how independent they were logging in to computers and attempting ICT tasks. It is a good idea to use buddies to help log-on and we might consider developing this in our school for example, digital helpers in PS3 could go and have lunch first then come and assist PS1/2 classes to log-in. 

Later we joined Grades 4-6 in a programming/design class for 3D printers using website ‘tinkercad’ this is a free website (using a class code to join the class). We were taught how to design our own 3D name tags and shown the schools 3D printer. We were encouraged by the teachers to find out if another school nearby has a 3D printer for us to use? 

After lunch we walked to the local playground and enjoyed playing a tag game with children to identify local plants, trees and insects. It was great to see the independence of the children dressing for outdoors. 

Back at the school we had a presentation from the Superintendent of the Porvoo Education System. He explained the organisation of the municipality and how it was split into Finnish speaking and Swedish speaking schools (14 Finnish, 9 Swedish in Porvoo). He also talked about budget and developing the curriculum in Porvoo through discussions between leaders, headteachers and teachers to progress/develop. There is a big emphasis on Wellbeing and supportive work for teachers and support staff, including ideas such as free lunch, journeys, access to psychologists, counsellors, a nurse and special education teachers.  

We then met the headteacher of some Preschools in Porvoo (2 Daycare schools for 1-5 year olds and one preschool for 6 year olds). Well-being for students and teachers is a priority here too and we learned about a Preschool project running for the last 3 years to encourage students and parents to develop physical skills. We were interested to learn that for children between 3 - 6 years old there is a 1:7 staff ratio (for 4 hours a day in pre-school ration is 1:13 - this is the ‘free’ education) and that while preschools teach rhymes, songs etc there is no formal teaching of reading and writing until Grade 1 (age 7). 

Wednesday 

We visited the Centre for Maths at Helsinki university this morning. The University offers schools maths classes, clubs to offer experiences and show pupils that ‘math that doesn’t necessarily happen in the classroom…there’s not always a right answer for everything!’ Our topic was ‘infinity’ and pupils were encouraged to consider the meaning of ‘infinity’ in maths and geometry and even if it does actually exist! We were fortunate to have a guided tour of the public library ‘Oodi’ this afternoon. The Library was a gift for the city in 2017 to celebrate 100 years independence from Russia. However, it was clearly much more than a library - rooms to book, music studios, instruments, 3D printers, knitting etc It was great to see this amazing space being used by huge numbers of people from different community groups. 

Thursday 

We accompanied the 4th Grade to the ‘Heureka’ science centre which supports schools to deliver science with an emphasis on the IMPACT of Science. In Finland the number of students in STEM fields is still going down so the schools and Science centre are working collaboratively to inspire pupils to learn by doing, sensing, experiencing and communicating. One experience is not enough if you want to learn…you need many experiences to reflect, retry and continue learning. The ‘Heureka’ centre is also piloting science clubs for seniors with their grandchildren. We enjoyed our coding session where the children worked with a partner to create a talking and moving robot. 

Friday 

We enjoyed our final meeting to reflect on our week in Porvoo. In particular we enjoyed discussing dinners and snacks! In Finland and Sweden all food is fresh, locally sourced and with many traditional dishes, the children have little sugar or desserts. We think this is something we should again discuss in our school.

5TH TRIP - MOBILITY TO WALES April 2023

Gowerton Primary

Crwys Primary

Day 1 Monday 24th April 

 The week began with a visit to Gowerton Primary School. We were treated to a wonderful welcoming ceremony, and some beautiful singing. Pupils and teachers gathered in the big hall. The pupils sang two songs for us and then we exchanged gifts. This was followed by a presentation by the principal, Iain Ashton, introducing us to the new Welsh Curriculum. This was very useful and brought up many interesting comparisons for us, in particular, as Ireland is also in the process of introducing a new Primary School curriculum at the moment. 

We then had a tour of the school and saw how the children worked, particularly in the area of expressive arts, using the outdoors. Children were very absorbed in their lessons and obviously enjoying working outdoors, and it was clear that excellent teaching and learning was taking place. I took lots of notes and ideas to implement in my own school next year. 

After lunch we heard from a number of Pupil representative groups about the interesting work they do in the school. We were taught how to make Welsh Cakes. This was followed by a very informative walk in the Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre, where we could observe birds and other wildlife in their natural habitat. It was a very interesting and informative day. 

Day 2 Tuesday 

On Tuesday, we visited Crwys Primary school. We were warmly welcomed by pupils and staff outdoors in beautiful sunshine. We exchanged gifts and were given a tour of the school. Again, impressive teaching and learning was taking place in various outdoor areas throughout the school, with pupils again deeply engrossed in, and obviously very much enjoying their lessons. We then went to the local woodland area and had a wonderful session of orienteering with the pupils from Crwys school. This was followed back at the school with a wonderful Cricket coaching session where we learned how to play Cricket. This was very informative and great fun. It is so good to be able to share the different sporting cultures in our different countries. 

Day 3 Wednesday 

For me, this was one of the highlights of the week (Ireland). We had a wonderful guided walk and storytelling session in Gower Heritage Centre and Three Cliffs Bay. The guide expertly talked us through the plant life-edible and inedible, the animal life and the local folktales and stories associated with the area. We also visited the ruins of Pennard Castle and heard about it’s great history and the many wonderful ghost stories associated with it. It was great to be able to compare these tales with the ones associated with my own area in Ireland. Some remarkable similarities. Then we went to Langland Beach and created some wonderful pieces of beach art. We used available materials and also inventive photography to create some lovely artwork. 

Day 4 Thursday 

This was a wonderful visit to the historic city of Cardiff and we had a very informative guided tour of the city. We also visited the very historic and beautiful Cardiff Castle. History was brought to life with a walk through the castle walls where people took shelter during the bombing of the city during World War two. 

Day 5 Friday 

This was sadly the end of our mobility and our project. We had our final project meeting and set out the priorities and tasks for the final report. It was sad to say goodbye to our friends and colleagues who had worked so well together over the last number of years. However, we decided that we are going to continue to work together despite Brexit and we are going to find ways to cooperate and meet up again and share experiences and best practice, along with a genuine friendship over the coming years.