Mr McKaye has returned from his adventures in Dublin, Ireland – hooray!!
He went over to a week long course with other European educators as part of our school’s Erasmus Key Action 1 funded project ‘Up, Up and Away!’ During his time there, Mr McKaye had the opportunity to observe outdoor lessons, discuss and exchange ideas, build practical skills, share teaching ideas and materials for Outdoor Education as well as make links with people from other European countries.
During the course, they were able to visit to a Green school and experience a Forest School where we learnt how to cook and make crafts from forest materials. Linking Outdoor Education with our Vincentian Value of being stewards of our environment alongside Mr McKaye’s feedback/experience, we recycle as much as possible to reduce classroom waste on a daily basis (e.g. paper, plastics and even fruit for our polytunnel compost). For more information on Green Flag Eco Schools, please visit: https://www.eco-schools.org.uk/about/what-is-eco-schools/
Most of the practices observed and learned during this week, have been taken and implemented at St Vincent’s here in London such as Forest bathing and how to identify trees and other fauna and flora. In his regular Forest School sessions, Mr McKaye has taught other staff to use lots of team building games to facilitate team bonding using challenging games such as Gutter Ball and some blind folded activities.
We continue to build and develop our Outdoor Education experiences and learning opportunities across the school from Early Years (Reception) to Year 6, look out for more posts to follow!