The Early Years Curriculum: A View from Outdoors

Education outdoors – in the school grounds or further afield – is widely recognised as making a valuable contribution to children’s development in all areas of the curriculum, including ‘areas of learning’ at Foundation Stage, and ‘subjects’ at Key Stage 1 and beyond.

Based on an account of Cornwall’s Education Action Zone project, ‘Kernow Woodland Learning’, this book provides an in-depth exploration of how to plan, implement and assess a rigorous and thorough outdoor early years curriculum that complements classroom-based learning and meets the Early Learning Goals through its:

• specific emphasis on planning, based on the Foundation Stage’s six areas of learning
• detailed accounts of children’s woodland-based sessions, which illustrate how they meet the requirements of the statutory curriculum
• inclusion of plans, formative and summative records to demonstrate how particular sessions address specific learning intentions
• consideration of the adult’s role, in terms of training, preparation and administration as well as in supporting learning
• coverage of issues such as risk assessment and health and safety.

Practical and accessible, this is ideal for early years practitioners looking to develop a specific outdoor learning curriculum plan and as a model for those working with Key Stage 2 and beyond.