Best in Class 2017
HEADLINES Over 2 million children in almost 20,000 schools got involved in Outdoor Classroom Day in 2017! Teachers in over 100 countries across all 7 continents took students outdoors to play and learn. Almost 2,500 parents pledged to support the campaign.
REACHED SCHOOLS IN ALL FOUR CORNERS OF THE MAP
ON THE DAY
CANADA
THAILAND
COLOMBIA
ANTARTICA
A CAMPAIGN DAY FOR EVERYONE Having three campaign dates made it possible for schools to get outdoors on a day that suited their climate and school term times.
18 May
7 September
Some schools participated in all three days!
12 October
POWERED BY TEAMWORK The global Outdoor Classroom Day is led by Project Dirt, in partnership with Unilever as part of their Dirt is Good movement. The partners supported local NGOs and Dirt is Good teams to deliver the campaign in countries around the world to grow the movement and reach more schools around the world.
SUPPORTERS Organisational supporters strengthened the campaign by lending their name, distributing content and linking in with Project Dirt’s global communications.
THE MOVEMENT IS GROWING… As the world prepared to swap blackboards for trees, everyone shared their excitement and encouraged others to get involved…
CHINA
INDONESIA: The Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection supported Outdoor Classroom Day.
18 MAY
The first adventurers to go outdoors were in New Zealand, UK, Singapore..
NEW ZEALAND: Cross grouping (multiple ages working together); scavenger hunting; bonfires and s'mores; getting dirty! Lots of whanau (family) involvement.
UK SINGAPORE
ISRAEL
18 MAY
While it was winding down in some areas, kids in Canada, USA and South America were waking up for outdoor adventures!
SPAIN
USA CANADA
BRAZIL
UK: We have a school of 86 complex SEN students. For us, going out as a whole school is a huge operation in organization. Having some students whose day would be challenging outside of their routine would be a challenge in itself. All of our students accessed an offsite activity at one of our local national parks. All students loved it and we were extremely proud of all of them for coping‌ Our parents on social media were extremely proud of their students as well for completing Outdoor Classroom Day offsite.’
11
7 SEPTEMBER
AUSTRALIA
From mindfulness to making kites, children in Australia were the first to kick off the day…
LEBANON
INDONESIA
7 SEPTEMBER
While the playful adventures spread to Thailand, Colombia and beyond…
COLOMBIA THAILAND
USA
COLOMBIA: ‘We will hold our natural science class outdoors on Outdoor Classroom Day, where students can observe nature and the living beings that surround us. We will then observe the Yomasa stream and see the environmental impact that is being created due to its contamination.’
12 OCTOBER
The final Outdoor Classroom Day of 2017 was a brilliant way to round off the biggest ever campaign! SOUTH AFRICA
CHINA
BANGLADESH
SINGAPORE
12 OCTOBER
India
An impressive 764 schools got involved in India’s first ever Outdoor Classroom Day.
INDIA NEW GUINEA
DENMARK
South Africa: Perform Afrikaans plays on outdoor stage (Grade 9). Reading in garden (Grade 8 IT). Chemistry "Amazing Race" (Grade 9 ). Nature walk for French vocabulary (Grade 10). Testing pH of soil (Physics Grade 11). Picnic and sport in the park for PE (whole school).
ON THE DAY
Muddy kids learn best! We believe #DirtisGood
AUSTRALIA
CHINA
USA
USEFUL RESOURCES Schools got creative with the Outdoor Classroom day resources, using everything from Mission: Explore outside the classroom to hulas to learn new skills… PHILLIPPINES: “Thank you for sharing the ideas and materials, which were so handy and flexi to use. I prepared my thoughts only last night and finished printing some materials by 12midnight. Went to class at 7:00AM, started with the Outdoor Classroom Day at 8:00AM and finished by 10:00AM.”
RAIN DIDN’T STOP PLAY “It’s raining, it’s pouring, don’t stay inside and be boring…” Children went outside, whatever the weather!
IMPACT Teachers told us about the difference they witnessed when getting outdoors‌
AUSTRALIA: Their behaviour was impeccable and they were a lot calmer than they usually are in the classroom. There wasn't a single utterance of 'I'm bored, do we have to do this?' all day and no-one argued or fell out with anyone else.’
IMPACT UK: The Federation of Riders Infant and Junior schools uses its outdoor space every day. The school has a much higher than average number of pupils who are disabled and/or have special educational needs and Miss Hudson the early Years school leader explains how using the outdoors helps her pupils. 'The children are easier to teach INDOORS as well as outdoors, when they have been outside' she says. ‘'It's hard to put into words, they just engage more outside, even if doing the same activity as they were doing indoors'. On Outdoor Classroom Day Year 3 spent the morning studying angles in the playground, whilst the Early Years children enjoyed story time in their willow dome, playing in the mud kitchen, playing and construction with loose parts and performing in their outdoor amphitheatre. Miss Hudson explains how one little girl (who has just recited the tale of the three little pigs beautifully to her classmates!) was selective mute when she started school. ‘Being outside enables her to find her voice, she is calmer and more confident that she can be heard. When speaking in the amphitheatre her voice projects so that other children can hear her speak’
MIAMI
SINGAPORE
IMPACT And parents told us what outdoors means to them and their children…
WALES: “My daughter proudly told her older sister she’s outdoors all day getting muddy! Well done @CorytonPrimary.”
ISLE OF WIGHT
IMPACT Local NGO partners celebrated getting outdoors in every language!
READ ALL ABOUT IT! The whole world heard the news as children went outdoors with over 200 international media articles. • • • • • •
Channel Five News, Sky News, Look North, BBC Radio x5, Nursery World, Sec-Ed, Independent Education (UK and Ireland) Hindustan Times, Business Standard, Asian Age, Saamana Times, The Quint (India) Eurpoa Press, El Confidencial, TV and Radio (Spain) Jornal de Brasilia, Alianca pela Infancia, Catraquinha (Brazil) Herald Sun, The West Australian, Collie Mail, The Courier Mail (Australia) Licensing Worldwide magazine, Eco-Schools Global (Global)
AND THE WINNER IS… To top it all off, the perfect partners won an award!
And the winner of Best Global Education Project is…
OUTDOOR LEARNING AND PLAY EVEY DAY The campaign is about more than just one day. It aims to be a catalyst for more time outdoors every day, at home and at school. Scotland: Positive responses from parents, pupils and teachers. Led to all staff agreeing to support Loose Parts play at least once a fortnight with their class, which has also meant that it's available over playtimes and lunchtimes. Several parents then asked that PEF money be spent on facilitating outdoor learning more.’
UK: The children were all so engaged in all the activities and staff all really enjoyed the whole day. Parent - "outdoor classroom day looks like great fun, more of this please.’
CHINA
Indonesia: Our school concept is learning through play and we do most of our play learning outdoors! It is our daily activity to have an assembly in our garden every morning and we have a minimum one lesson outdoors. We plan to do the same activities everyday :) We are excited that a lot of schools are participating in this way of learning!’
THANK YOU
Join the movement! www.outdoorclassroomday.com