Special Curriculum Topics as Required

Almost any topic can be delivered through outdoor education. We like to be as innovative as possible in what we do and deliver, so we are happy to develop and run activities that don’t appear in our usual categories. 

One example was for a school that wanted to run a day of activities with an Egyptian theme. The pupils made their own straw boats and then got the chance to work a Shaduf (the ancient pumping system that was used to lift water out of a river). They were amazed to realise how easy it was to lift a bucket full of water 3m up out of the canal. Then the entire group was enthusiastically engaged in making their own version and having a small competition to see which group could lift the most water.

A Brownie group asked for a session about pollution. Our worker planned a session around water pollution.
Linking to the national OPAL programme, the children looked at where the body of water was and its surroundings, and measured the water for cloudiness and pH value.
They then canal dipped with nets and identified the fish and invertebrates present, which enabled them to score the water for purity on the nationally recognised scales.