Cornish College is located on 100 acres of natural parkland in Bangholme, Melbourne. The College has over 600 ELC to Year 12 students and is a coeducational, independent school which was founded in 2012. The college’s Outdoor Learning Coordinator Sam Millar, shares their Outdoor Classroom Day story with us.

Our students are encouraged to make a difference in the community and the world that they live in.  We recognise the importance of connecting our students to their country so our ELC3 – Year 6 students spend 2-3 hours each week involved in Outdoor Learning which we call Dhumba-dha biik (which is Boon Wurrung language and means “Talk Country”).  Our secondary teachers take their classes outside whenever there is an authentic connection to be made.

Outdoor Classroom Day is an opportunity to highlight the importance of students and teachers spending time in nature – playing and learning.

We participate in Outdoor Classroom Day because we are educating for a sustainable future and to do this our students and staff need to connect to the natural world. Outdoor Classroom Day is an opportunity for our whole school to get outside on the same day and use our property together. It particularly gives teachers who may not teach outside at all the confidence to give it a go.

There were lots of learning exercises we shared with the students, as all our classes from ELC3 to YR12 were outside!  An example of what our Year 1 class did: hiking to the river, science ponding, STEM (make a boat float challenge), outdoor chapel, literacy (barefoots plays), Dadirri (meditation), STEM (whittling and whipping).

ALL of our ELC and Primary classes spend designated time (2 to 3 hours every week) outside learning, whatever the weather!  In addition to these set hours, we are lucky that we have the flexibility to take our classes outside as much as we like.

We have seen some wonderful benefits to taking learning outdoors, including:

• well-being
• resilience
• confidence
• independence
• communication
• creative thinking and problem solving
• getting to know students better
• students improving their skills in assessing and taking risks
• connection to land and one another
• stewardship

 

 

As the school’s Outdoor Learning Coordinator I am always looking for ways to encourage teachers to utilise our property and/or the outside environment. We are doing a pretty good job at Cornish but there is always room for improvement!  Outdoor Learning is not just for the younger students it is for ALL students. The highlight of every week for both myself and my students is the time that we spend outside exploring and learning together, in and with nature.

 

The Outdoor Classroom Day Team would like to thank Cornish College for sharing their story with us.

WANT TO SHARE YOUR OUTDOOR CLASSROOM DAY STORY WITH THE WORLD?

If you’ve previously taken part in Outdoor Classroom Day, you’ve probably got some great stories to share – and we’d love to hear them!
To be featured in our Outdoor Classroom Story section on our website, please tell us a bit more about your school, and your participation in previous Outdoor Classroom Day campaigns.

SHARE YOUR STORY

 

Is your school or early learning centre signed up?  Register today to show your commitment to outdoor play and learning!