Hillcroft School to take lessons beyond the classroom

Any pupils at Hillcroft School in Caterham caught staring out of the window in lessons could have the excuse that they are in fact thinking about school work after the school revealed plans to turn its grounds into an outdoor classroom.

Working in partnership with The Hawthorns school in nearby Bletchingley, plans are already well underway to create a new outdoor learning environment, with the building project itself being turned into an educational experience, involving the school’s gardening club, and with pupils literally getting their hands dirty in the preparation of the new area.

As part of the initiative, parents and children were invited to a conservation morning at The Hawthorns on January 17 to get an idea of the projects that will be involved, and also to get some hands-on experience of the kind of work that will be involved.

Over the coming months, Hawthorns pupils will be making weekly visits to Hillcroft to help students in Years 3 and 4 with the task of preparing weed beds and making log piles to help with the building work.

“This is a really creative, clever project and one that I think will really capture the imagination of the children,” said head teacher Stephanine Scutter.

“Having an outdoor classroom will help us make better use of the grounds, as well as making the process of learning so much fun, and along the way, the children will also have the advantage of acquiring new skills and discovering more about the world around them. It’s an exciting new chapter for our school and I can’t wait to watch it develop.”