Engage parents with outdoor learning
You need to show how your outdoor learning practice has positively impacted parents’ understanding, provides an appropriate level of support and ensures that they are confident advocates for your school’s outdoor learning aims. For example, you can demonstrate this by providing an information session for parents and then record how it has improved their understanding of outdoor learning. This can be done through asking them to complete a simple evaluation, recording their ‘before’ and ‘after’ knowledge and understanding. This can then be followed up with further sessions with parents throughout the award if required.
An analysis of parent questionnaires can be useful for your school. These need to be kept short and simple to enable easy analysis; your school can use online sites like SurveyMonkey to help offer structure. Give a clear deadline for completing the survey. The analysis helps give you a clear measure of how involved and informed parents feel as well as how much they understand the value of outdoor learning for their children. It is really important to feed back the information to parents within a short time frame so that it stays fresh in their minds.
Remember in each case to describe the impact of your actions (that is, what difference they made) and not just what you did.
This benchmark focuses on the relationship that is built between parents and your school to reinforce the importance of outdoor learning. It aims to strengthen their education and understanding of how outdoor learning can apply to all areas of life.
Involving parents in the growth and development of outdoor learning in your school can play a vital part in the long-term impact for all, especially in terms of environmental sustainability for the planet.
Creating partnerships whereby parents lend their skills, time and ideas may help move outdoor learning projects along at a faster pace and cut costs in the long term.
Intentions are actions you intend to take in order to improve your provision in this benchmark. Choose three intentions to focus on.
Asking parents for their views about outdoor learning and the impact it has on their child/children is an ideal way of engaging them further. Hopefully, they will appreciate being consulted, as their opinions matter, and they will want to offer their continued support to your school.
A simple survey of up to five questions is a great way to get feedback from parents. Additionally, it ensures that they are clear about your school’s aims and objectives as well as being able to get feedback on how it is all being received.
Once you have received parents’ feedback, you will need to analyse it. This could be by number (the number of parents who reported that their child enjoys outdoor learning) or by theme (what themes emerged from the feedback and whether there were any commonalities in their responses).
Your school will need to decide how it uses this data and what needs to be implemented or changed as a result of the survey.
Top tips
- Have a clear timeline for the survey: when it will go out, when replies need to be back and when you will let people know the results.
- Consider using an online survey tool (like SurveyMonkey or Typeform) to gather the data so it is easier to complete the task.
- It is important to ask for feedback from stakeholders, but remember that not all feedback needs to be implemented.
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Download and use these survey questions for parents.
Increase parental input to your school’s outdoor learning journey by asking parents/grandparents/carers for practical support with outdoor learning events. Events could include a dig out, cutting back overgrown vegetation, planting bulbs/seeds, clean-up events and tree care sessions. Alternatively, schools might like to host events such as:
- ‘what to grow in your garden’ at different times of the growing year
- ‘being safe in the countryside’.
You can acknowledge the efforts of parents/grandparents/carers who express a keen interest by creating a list with a pool of skills that can be used to enhance outdoor learning events. This list can include gardeners, those with environmental experience, labourers, those with more specific outdoor learning skills and more. Your school might consider having a shared space such as a social media page or messaging service group to communicate regularly.
Empowering parents/grandparents/carers to take on some ownership and involvement will help embed their support for your school’s outdoor learning events and encourage them to be strong advocates and allies. It will also lessen the workload of staff members who work in your school.
Top tips
- Create a template for keeping track of who is available to help, what they can do and when they can help.
- Consider the type of events you want to run and what is possible with the support you have available. Work with what you have.
- Maintain momentum within the group by posting on social media/your website and thanking everyone for their support.
- Make it easy for people to offer their help: create a welcome pack with everything they will need to know about supporting the outdoor learning provision in your school.
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Many parents are busy people and have limited time and energy to offer your school and the outdoor learning provision. What can work well with busy people is to give them plenty of notice about events that are taking place. That is where a calendar of events can help.
Your school will need to decide on the type of events you would like parents to attend, then think about the best time of year (considering the weather especially) to hold the events. Spacing out your range of events will make them more accessible to parents who have many other responsibilities to uphold, as they can choose when is best for them.
An online shared calendar of events would enable parents to sign up to support your school; it would also keep them informed and ensure everyone has access when they need it. You might find that you have a range of willing parents who are keen to attend events to provide food and drinks, alongside those who have ideas, gifts and skills to offer.
Crucially, make sure you are well organised from the start so that everyone is clear about your school’s needs and their capabilities.
Top tips
- Keep the events calendar up to date and freely available to all parents.
- Emphasis that parents need to honour their commitments and if they can’t attend, they need to give ample notice.
- Think about how you can thank parents for their contributions and maintain their interest over time.
Further resources
- Canva offers a range of free customisable calendar templates.
Parents have so much to offer your school and many of them will be eager to lend their support. One of the most impactful ways is to gain their help with fundraising. This is a crucial part of the outdoor learning provision, as adequate funding can often close the gap between good intentions and excellent provision. It also fosters a collective sense of achievement!
Access to increased funds could help your school to pay for training courses, purchase resources that will be used by pupils, or support staff and pupils in other ways. Often, outdoor learning opportunities are scuppered because there is inadequate clothing available. By purchasing the peripherals, like clothing or footwear, outdoor learning provision can thrive.
Many fundraising activities are easy to achieve and can have a significant impact on outdoor learning provision. Think creatively about what is possible and where people’s skills lie. You might like to start small, with something like a ‘homemade sale’, featuring homemade products that members of your school’s wider community have produced. Once the small events have boosted people’s confidence and capabilities, you can progress to larger events that feature the whole community. This is a great way to share the message with the whole school and wider community and to raise required funds.
Top tips
- Delegate the responsibility of planning events to parents, with clear instructions and expectations that are agreed and set from the start.
- Keep parents informed about how the funding is being used, for example, new wheelbarrows, vegetable seeds or specialist outdoor clothing for staff members.
- Ensure that your events have a two-pronged approach to success: they need to raise awareness about outdoor learning as well as raise funds to improve provision.
Further resources
- Check out these impactful school fundraising ideas.
Sharing regular updates keeps parents informed and engaged in your school's outdoor learning aims and intentions. You can communicate these through many platforms. The most effective is the pupils themselves – reporting their experiences directly to parents. If pupils are inspired and motivated and given the opportunity, they will readily share with their families.
Encourage parents to ask their children about their learning opportunities. You can suggest some open-ended question ideas to ask their children.
Providing tips, ideas and activities is also a great way to promote outdoor learning and all its benefits. You could do this by regularly sharing your accomplishments and success, including those that are easy to replicate at home. Consider simple home planting tips, easy recipes or step-by-step guides to caring for the environment. These then extend and deepen parent levels of knowledge and understanding, thereby increasing their engagement and commitment to outdoor learning.
Top tips
- Be creative about what information you share and how you share it. Consider using photos, videos, social media posts, newsletter updates, website links and assembly schedules.
- Keep simple records of what you have shared, so that there is not too much repetition of the message.
- Ensure you make it clear to parents how outdoor learning is progressing in your school, rather than just sharing information about what you are doing.
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Share these open-ended questions with parents to ask their children about their outdoor learning experience.
Further resources
Raising awareness and facilitating a better understanding of outdoor learning's benefits and aims is an essential part of outdoor learning. Running a campaign or series of campaigns is a powerful way to raise awareness among parents. It also helps them feel part of the school’s aims and see their place within it.
Sometimes, parents want to get involved, but they do not know where to start. Your school needs to create an easy, accessible and meaningful way to raise awareness about outdoor learning with them. This could be as simple as arranging a talk about outdoor learning from the outdoor learning curriculum lead, where they share the school’s aims for outdoor learning, providing an accessible display within the school (outside in an area where parents are welcome).
Top tips
- Consider how you will best get your messages across. Will social media work well or would a noticeboard be a better approach?
- Decide about what you want to raise awareness of. Then think about the best way to share that information.
- Think about how you could involve parents in helping their fellow parents understand more about outdoor learning. Ask them to contribute their ideas about raising awareness.
Ask yourself and your outdoor learning colleagues:
- How engaged are your school’s parents with outdoor learning in your school?
- How welcome and confident do parents feel to get involved?
- How has this changed since you started the award? Do parents feel part of the process?
- Are they strong advocates of outdoor learning for their children?