Learning Approach

Let’s shift from
school-readiness to life-readiness

We aim to enable your child to be healthy, happy, and to flourish

We believe in taking a well-balanced and considered approach to learning. We want your child to build resilience and develop a broad range of skills. This is to prepare them not only for school but also for life. We believe the outdoors is the best place to achieve this, after all it is the perfect place to have fun and build childhood memories.

When our wise little ones leave us they are fully equipped with creativity and social intelligence. They will not just be problem-solvers but have problem-identifying skills needed in the world of tomorrow.

Styles of Learning

  • Free Play

    Initiated by the child where teachers observe their play uninterrupted, giving them time and space to be. Children can interact with different curated areas in camp: reading, mud kitchen, digging, obstacle course, arts & crafts, loose parts, tree climbing)

  • Guided Play

    Child-initiated and then teachers facilitate learning by scaffolding play, to extend learning opportunities. This includes a variety of games and our adventure walks in nature.

  • Teacher Led

    Teacher designed and controlled which include circle times, preschool sessions, and forest school activities (camp fires, sawing, whittling etc)

Our approach

At Outdoor Owls we use an organic, play-based approach set outdoors following the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) learning framework set by Ofsted (see here).

Our educational philosophy is child-led and guided by a couple of core principles. Firstly, we focus on what your child can do, not what they can't. Secondly, we refrain from telling your child 'what' to think but rather facilitate them in 'how' to think.

By following these principles and not wrapping children in cotton wool, we believe your child will leave us strong and prepared for future learning and the rest of their lives.

Our methods

We have taken a sprinkle of inspiration from a mix of different play-based pedagogies to inspire our practice including Froebel, Reggio Emilia, Montessori, Steiner, and Forest Schools. We don't constrict ourselves to one approach but rather prefer to tailor aspects to suit each unique child’s imagination and curiosity.

We use the outdoors as a powerful open-ended setting filled with natural resources. Hence we draw a lot from ‘Forest School’ methods which are set up to allow children to lead with their innate curiosity.

Our teacher to child ratio is 1:4 for 2 year olds and 1:8 for 3-5 year olds and different child ages are mixed together. This means children get a necessary amount for educator support and are able to watch and learn through others at different learning stages. As your child gets older with us they are able to take lead in supporting younger children around them. This helps to build your child’s confidence and cognitive flexibility.