Armadale Academy has launched full-day outdoor learning classes to help support students’ mental health and wellbeing post-lockdown.
The classes are delivered as part of council’s ‘Bounce Back Stronger’ programme in the schools newly-developed outdoor classroom.
Principal teacher of wellbeing, Miss McIlwraith, led the way with the outdoor curriculum and students will have the opportunity to work with West Lothian Rangers, Port Edgar Watersports, Mountain Bike Instructors, Sustrans Scotland, and other local charities and business partners.
All of the Academy’s BGE pupils in S1 to S3 will have the chance to participate in full day outdoor learning experience with older students assisting in the delivery of the course.
One S4 pupil at Armadale Academy, said: “I love taking part in outdoor learning every week, it really helps me with my mental health.
“I look forward to it every week and I hope it is something that continues in the curriculum as I feel the benefit instantly.”
Targeted and specialist interventions have also had a beneficial impact on a number of students who have found the transition back to full-time schooling difficult after lockdown.
Other initiatives the school has launched to improve wellbeing post-lockdown include: bike maintenance, forest skills, orienteering and mountain biking.
A number of staff have also committed time to using outdoor learning as a vehicle to deliver curricular outcomes within the mainstream curriculum.
Parental feedback about the initiatives has also been complimentary - one parent of a student who attends the ‘Small Group Setting’ provision within the Academy said that her child ‘had a wonderful time at his outdoor learning experience.’
She went on to say: “He had been looking forward to it since it was first suggested to him & was the first thing he spoke about when he got home. It’s very unusual for him to want to speak about his school day so I knew he had a fab time.”
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