 A back corner behind the oval was considered 'dead space' at Herne Hill Primary School. |  The back corner is now a growing bushland space that is used as an outdoor classroom |  The classroom 'chairs' are chopped up tree stumps, they offer the perfect setting arrangement for circle time. |
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HARD WORK PAYS OFF AT HERNE HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL
Katherine Baverstock is a passionate Integration Aide at Herne Hill Primary School. She has a horticultural background hence she has a love for both nature and education.
Katherine attended a professional development day and keenly listened to a talk about learning in nature. She returned to school and presented the idea of an outdoor classroom to a teacher; Matthew Hobbs. Together, they planned, sourced, organised and built the outdoor classroom with the help and support of the school community.
Matthew Hobbs (2015, Teacher at Herne Hill Primary School) stated that ‘designing and building an outdoor classroom is hard work that requires community support and time but the benefits far outweigh the barriers we faced along the way. We started with three existing trees in the back corner of the school and we added large volcanic rocks before planting any plants and erecting the fence. We continued to add elements as we could and now we have what we call an outdoor classroom’.
Herne Hill Primary School is a wonderful example of how any school can create an outdoor classroom. It is okay if it is a slow process and it is okay to create something simplistic.
LEARNING IN THE 'BUSHLAND' AT HERNE HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL
Possum boxes were put in the trees to encourage wildlife to use the space that has been created. Matthew Hobbs (2015) stated that ‘ We are not sure if we have possums yet but when they do eventually arrive, we will incorporate them into our curriculum’.
All of the plants in the ‘bush land’ space are native to the area. The numbers represent the different species of plants. The teachers and students use the numbers to identify the species and conduct investigations during environmental lessons.
Herne Hill Primary School students played a part in creating their outdoor classroom. Each student was able to plant a plant if they had adult supervision. For some students, this was a unique experience.
(Please note that the image is not from Herne Hill Primary School).
An important aspect to stress, is that not all learning that happens in an outdoor classroom has to be environmental. It is common and great to see students reading in nature or even participating in circle time in the outdoors.
Students at Herne Hill Primary School ran laps around the oval as part of their routine, one of the original trees acted as a landmark that students ran around. The outdoor classroom has not imposed on that routine, now the students run through the 'bush land' during their run which results in the students having contact with nature on a regular basis.
Katherine and some students have turned another 'dead space' into a sensory garden that is designed to attract butterflies. Students participated in shovelling soil, planting plants and maintaining the garden.
At the end of the sensory garden is a pumpkin growing competition that holds great opportunity for students to learn about growing produce effectively. The students often measure their pumpkins to see who is winning and naturally talk about mathematics during the process.
