Beach Schools South West has been all over Devon since it was founded five years ago, allowing children of all backgrounds to experience outdoor learning. Based on the model of Forest Schools, which allows pupils to visit natural spaces and learn social and team building skills, the initiative provides learning on all manner of topics beside the seaside. Founder and Director Tess Stuber said, "we are a mobile beach school so we can go take our programme to any beach. Our ethos is about children leading themselves and not being taught or given direct instruction - and they learn without realising it." Beach Schools South West is a community interest company and gets its funding from charitable trusts and foundations, the lottery and through partnerships with local businesses such as South West Water. Many of the schools that Beach Schools South West visit are in underprivileged areas. A staggering amount of pupils from these coastal regions have never visited the beach.
Activities on the day include building shelters, sourcing emergency food supplies, learning about pollution and lighting fires: "You can teach any subject on the beach," says Ms Murray, "we speak to classroom teachers about what the children are learning in school and we just adapt. The beach is a very versatile place to take the curriculum."
Ms Murray now runs at least 50 beach school sessions a year. One teacher described how the diverse learning opportunities on the beach will be taken back to the classroom and furnish countless follow up learning sessions. She also highlighted how the setting had encouraged different behaviour from her pupils, noting their courtesy to one another and heightened attention to discussions.
Why not check out our interviews with Learning Away and the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom? Find out more about the benefits of outdoor learning, access additional resources and discover ways you can take your class out and about.
