School in the Wood
“The school grounds are a hidden gem with the most spectacular views of Rottingdean.”
PARENT SURVEY
2023
“The outdoor learning programme is just fantastic. Everyday lessons become something that the children remember.”
PARENT SURVEY
2023
Our City Our World
As of 2022, Our Lady of Lourdes has joined the Our City, Our World (OCOW) project, which focuses on using education to advance environmental literacy and social responsibility for a more sustainable future. The initiative aims to promote outdoor learning and foster a lifelong commitment to environmental care, with a curriculum emphasising self-care, environmental stewardship and social responsibility.
OCOW’s goals include:
- Developing green skills in students.
- Encouraging sustainable practives.
- Strengthening students’ connection with nature.
- Empowering students to become change makers, both individually and collectively.
This partnership provides students with opportunities to engage in real-world environmental action and contribute to a sustainable community. For more information, visit their website.
In 2024 we were awarded the Our City Our World bronze award! The bronze award is awarded to schools who have demonstrated sustainability work and eco initiatives; for us this included working on our School in the Wood area, the one paper towel challenge and taking part in more outdoor learning!
School in the Wood
We have moved away from ‘Forest School’ which would only take place one every half term and was heavily focused on building fires and outdoor survival.
Instead, we have started to look at how our outdoor space can be used more within the curriculum, creating ‘School in the wood’. School in the wood will integrate outdoor learning with our already existing school curriculum, in the hopes of enriching all subjects. For example, our year 3s created Sone Age tools as part of their DT project in the Woodland Classroom and sat in the discovery zone to create poems about nature.
We get outside for our Maths lessons, RE, Geography, History and more, all whilst integrating a love and care for the environment around us.
