Welcome to our Learning Outside the Classroom pages
Please click on the classes to view an insight to our learning outside the classroom for 2024-25
NURSERY
January 2026
The children in nursery walked to the local pet shop. We practised our road safety as we crossed the roads - we stopped, looked and listened before crossing the roads.
When we arrived at the pet shop we looked around at all the animals. We talked about which ones had fur, scales or feather. The lady in the shop answered our questions and showed us the crickets that they feed to the snakes, lizards and spiders.
The favourite animals were the snakes and the cockatiel. There was a huge snake which was shedding its skin when we were there which was very interesting.
December 2025
The children in Nursery enjoyed their trip to the charity shop this month. They have been learning about the importance of giving to others at Christmas and that not everyone is as fortunate as they are. They had to find a toy at home that they could donate to charity in order to help others in need.
On the walk we practiced our road safety skills from last week as we crossed each road. When we arrived at the charity shop the children each gave their toy over to the shop keeper who explained what happens to their unwanted toys. It was lovely to hear that the toys will go to children who need them.
The Children were extremely well behaved and represented Holy Family School well!
November 2025
This week at Forest School Mrs Jewell (from gardening club) invited us to help her dig up her potatoes. All the children used trowels and forks to dig up the ground and found lots of potatoes in the soil. We talk about how potatoes grow under the ground from the 'tuber' not on the plant itself. Once we picked all the potatoes we took them back to class where we washed them, peeled and chopped them then microwaved them to make crisps. The children were amazed to see how the potatoe very quickly becomes a crisp when cooked.
The children learnt how to wash and prepare the food, use the tools safely and showed them where our food comes from.
October 2025
In LOTC this week we read the story Leaf Man. We stopped and looked at the pictures talking about how Leaf Man and the other characters were all made of autumn leaves. The children identified other autumn natural objects they could see in the pictures and what they had been used for. We then made our own Leaf Men by finding natural objects around Forest School for all the different body parts then created our own Leaf Man. The children had to think carefully about the shape and size they needed for each part e.g. a large round leaf for the head and two small objects for the eyes. Then they explained what they had used and why.
September 2025
Nursery enjoyed their first Forest School session. We went to our outdoor classroom and learnt the rules of Forest School in order to keep ourselves and others safe. Then we got to explore. We looked carefully to see what was living in the pond, found acorns that we collected for the squirrels, rubbed and smelt a variety of herbs growing, explored under the trees and found a hole in the leaves that we think could be a hedgehog house.
RECEPTION
January 2026
We tried to keep warm and stay active in the cold weather.
December 2025
We enjoyed bird-watching and leaving seeds for the birds to help them survive cold winter days. We had to be very quiet and move slowly and carefully so as not to scare the birds away. We were able to name a few birds that we saw – magpies, wood pigeons, robins and, possibly herring gulls.
November 2025
We created nature brushes with sticks, feathers, leaves and grass. We tested them in the pond before we had a go at using them to create mud paintings.
October 2025
Reception children enjoyed being the stewards of the planet and collecting rubbish in the school field as part of our RE learning. In history, we learnt about some games form the past. Can you guess which games the children are playing in the photos?
September 2025
Reception children learnt the rules of LOtC to keep ourselves and others safe. They enjoyed their Geography and PE lessons outside in the sun, creating beautiful autumnal still lifes and playing their favourite outdoor games.
YEAR 1
January 2026
We started January by taking our music outside. We listened carefully to the sounds in the environment and then created dances to match the sound of cars travelling, wind whistling and rain falling.
In DT we explored making balances. We explored what made a balance stable and unstable. This will help us when we come to design and make our pencil pots.
In geography we are learning about the seasons and we made a journey stick as we travelled around the school grounds, looking for things that would tell people it is winter. We also practised using a compass, discovering what was north, south, east and west.
In English we are reading a story about Stanley and his stick. We went outside to collect our own sticks and then thinking about the size and the shape we used our imaginations to think about what our stick could be and what it did. We then made labels for our sticks.
November 2025
Our Year 1 children had a wonderful time bringing The Gruffalo to life by creating their own Gruffalo Mud Pies during English and Learning Outside the Classroom lesson. After exploring descriptive language in the story, the children headed outdoors to mix, mould, and decorate their mud pies using natural materials. The activity sparked imagination, enriched vocabulary, and encouraged teamwork—all while giving pupils the joy of hands-on learning in the fresh air. A truly muddy, magical adventure!
YEAR 2
January 2026
23rd Jan
Science – BuilderMaterial hunt
In our LOTC lesson today we pretended we were builders and we checked different things in the outdoor environment to see what material they were made from. We talked about the different properties they had and then spoke about if we felt that this materialis suitable for what it is being used for.
January 2026
30th Jan
In our LOTC lesson today we learnt about what a hazard and a risk is. We learnt that a hazard is something that can hurt you and a risk is something you choose to do where you might come to some harm. We worked in groups of 4 to find hazards and risks inour playground.
November 2025
10th Nov
During our LOTC lesson we imagined we were going on a journey like CJ did from our story we have been using in Last Stop on Market Street. We used all of our senses and we had to think about what we could see, touch , hear and smell. We discussed this with our partners and we then came back to class and wrote noun phrases about our journey which will help us write our own narrative.
November 2025
Science
In Science we are learning all about Micro Habitats. A micro habitat is a smaller habitat in a bigger habitat which has different conditions. In our Science lesson we looked at the microhabitat known as leaf litter. We learnt that you can find this in a woodland habitat. We enjoyed looking through the leaf litter to see what mini beasts we could find.
September 2025
In our LOTC lesson today we spent some time learning about the difference between natural and man-made objects. We then collected different natural resources from outside and made our own piece of artwork. We then showed everyone our designs on the whiteboard and spoke about what we had made.
YEAR 3
January 2026
Litter Picking
In LOTC, we carried out a litter pick. We kept a tally of the materials that we collected. We will use our findings in computing to create a pie chart/bar chart. This is a great opportunity for children to collect first hand data and use it in our computing lesson.
January 2026
Senses Writing
In LOTC, we were practicing our senses writing to help support us in our guided reading and English topic. In English, we are looking at Alice in Wonderland and particularly focusing on settings so it was really helpful to have a go at creating a piece of senses writing to try and build a vocabulary bank.
January 2026
Stone Age Scavengers
In LOTC, we became stone age scavengers! We foraged for items such as mud, green leaves and berries to create a palette of natural paint. On our journey, we also find tree sap (orange), charcoal (black) and managed to create some natural pigments to use like the stone age people would have done. We then came back to the tables outside and managed to create some great pictures with our pigments we found.
December 2025
In one LOTC session, we did some hoop drawing. We took our sketch books outside and a hoop. In small groups, we chose an area of the outside space and put a hoop down and we had to draw what we could see in the hoop. In another LOTC session, we were trying to find right angles around the school and outdoor area. One group managed to find over 25 right angles! This is linked to our current maths topic all about angles. We found right angles on the lines on the playground, on treetops, on the shed and many more! In our last session of the term, we were hunting were rocks. This is linked to our geography unit all about volcanoes. Igneous rocks tend to be the rocks found near volcanoes. We went on a hunt for igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The most popular rock type we found were metamorphic but we did managed to find examples of all these rocks! It was great fun!
November 2025
Wreath making
In LOTC, we made nature wreaths using paper plates. We foraged for a collection of natural materials. We then organised them carefully on our plates to look like wreaths.
November 2025
In this session today, we were celebrating friendship week/anti-bullying week by making kindness trees. We started with an empty tree template that was in desperate need of leaves to bring it back to life. The children foraged leaves from around the playground and wrote on them ways in which we can show kindness to other people such as sharing our resources and checking on people if they seem sad. We then filled our trees with kindnessl eaves.
November 2025
Self-portraits line drawings
In LOTC today, firstly, we went through our safety rules for using our forest school as it’s a new half term. We then created our own self-portraits using natural materials. The children spent time outside foraging for materials such as leaves, acorns, sticks, berries, stones and more to use to create their own portraits. We took all of our foraged findings back to the classroom to compile our pieces of work. The children loved creating these.
September 2025
As part of the Egyptian History topic, children have been looking at the way Ancient Egyptians used symbols and pictures to communicate. Children practised using Hieroglyphs to communicate their name.
YEAR 4
November 2025
In November, Year 4 designed and made a stick man out of natural materials. They then made up a story about their stick man. The children also enjoyed an archery session led by Mrs Moxham..To link with our history topic on the Romans, Year 4 visited the Verulanium Museum in St Albans. The children enjoyed seeing the hypocaust and mosaics and took part in a workshop where they got to explore Roman artefacts.
September 2025
In our firstLOTC session this year, Year 4 had to build team work by working in pairs to make a paper aeroplane. We then enjoyed testing out how well the aeroplanes worked! We also took our maths learning outside and used objects such as twigs and leaves in our calculations. We also investigated the outside area for signs of autumn such as acorns, fallen leaves and conkers.
YEAR 5
January 2026
Year 5 have been enjoying our outdoor learning in January, despite the rain. In Science, we went outside onto the playground in ‘solar system groups’ we each had a planet and made a moving model to represent how the planets orbit the sun. In English, inspired by our English texts, we went outside to look up into the ‘’Skies Above Our Eyes’’ to gather some ideas for our practise writing of non-chronological texts. We let our imaginations run wild with phoenix, aliens and other beautiful interesting sights we could imagine.
November 2025
In year 5 in November, despite the wet weather, we have enjoyed taking our learning outside the classroom. We have particularly enjoyed science lessons when we have done a variety of experiments including investigating different materials to see how hard or soft they were. We also really enjoyed an indoor archery Competition that we took part in and our swimming lessons.
September 2025
Year 5 have been enjoying their outdoor learning this month. Armed with their sketch books and pencils, Year 5 took their learning out onto the field to learn how to sketch a landscape. They began to develop their observational and creative skills focusing on the horizon and where the different elements were in relation to it.
YEAR 6
October 2025
Maths & Grammar
Making a Loop Game Activity: `
Students design a loop game where answers to one question lead to the next.
Grammar:
Homophones Game Activity: Create a matching card game where pairs of homophones and their definitions must be matched.
October 2025
RE
The Rosary and Pilgrimage
Activity: Explore the Rosary through meditative in the Prayer Garden.
Visit Aylesford to deepen understanding through guided activities and prayers.
