Learning Outside the Classroom (LOTC)

We have a strong commitment to providing excellent Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) for all our children at Mowbray. LOtC is the only National accreditation for school which recognises and supports the development of learning outside the classroom in all subject areas. Achieving this prestigious award is a huge achievement and shows our dedication to provide our pupils with life changing opportunities. 
Holly and Beech Class visited Choppington Woods at the beginning of the Autumn Term, to take part in a range of Maths activities including:  measuring the circumference of trees, the depth of the pond, the flow of the river, looking for symmetry in leaves, making 2d shapes as well as estimating and calculating.  Of course, no trip to the woods would be complete without a bit of den building to round the afternoon off! 
 
This LOtC allowed children to opportunity to develop Life Skills, Self Awareness, Self Belief and Curiosity, Risk, Resilience and Perseverance in accordance with our Core Values.
 As part of 'Stick Week' children from Holly Class were challenged to make stick stars, using sticks found around the school grounds.  We had to cut and collect 5 sticks of equal length and diameter, following the safety rules.  Using our collaborative skills, we then worked through the problem of how to join the sticks together using string.  This helped us develop our Life Skills, Resilience, Self Awareness, Self Belief and Perseverance.
During 'Stick Week' Beech class took their Maths lessons outdoors, to consolidate their learning of Place Value and column addition, developing their Life Skills, Self Esteem and Self Belief.
As part of Holly and Beech's Chocolate topic this term, children developed their reading skills outside of the classroom, taking part in an Outdoor Scavenger Hunt Quiz, whereby they had to work with a partner to locate the information around the school grounds, in order to answer questions about the history of the Cadbury company.  This helped them develop their Resilience, Curiosity, Self Awareness, Self Esteem, Self Belief and Perseverance.
Willow Class visited the beautiful Cragside House in Rothbury, as part of their Victorian topic.  This consolidated our learning from inside the classroom of Victorian inventions, where we have been learning about Ada Lovelace, a computer-wizard of the Victorian times, and being able to witness first-hand other Victorian inventions and see how these still impact on our lives today.  We learned about Lord Armstrong's labour-saving invention, and saw how Joseph Swan's invention of the electric lightbulb was used to illuminate the house as well as William Morris' wallpaper and stained-glass window designs displayed around the house.
 
 
In the afternoon, we took part in a Maths trail in the grounds of Cragside House, including: estimating and measuring, geometry and calculating.
 
Our learning outside of the classroom, enabled us to develop our skills of Curiosity, Aspiration, Self Esteem, Self Belief and Perseverance.

Olympic and Commonwealth Medal-winning Athlete Pole-vaults into Mowbray

On Monday 23rd September, 2019, local athlete  Sally Scott came to our school to show every child from Reception class to Y6 some of her exercises and training programmes for getting fit.  Each high-impact session to music was fast and furious and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.  She later held a whole school assembly to demonstrate her pole-vaulting techniques and to tell us about how she began her sporting career. As well as having fun exercising each child was sponsored by family and friends.  Our school raised a staggering total of £1464.40!

School is allowed to keep £716.64 to spend on sports equipment with the remaining money being used to fund Team GB athletes.

This Learning Outside of the Classroom encouraged the children's Self Belief, Self Awareness, Curiosity, Risk and Perseverance.

Elder Class visited Choppington Woods to take part in a Maths Trail, and completed many Maths activities, including: number orientation using natural materials, counting, calculations and measure.
 
This helped develop the children's Curiosity, Self Esteem, Self Belief and Perseverance, in line with our core values.
During 'Stick Week', Mulberry class took their learning outside of the classroom to design Stone Age weapons and create them using sticks, stones and cardboard. We then practised our aim by 'shooting' at Stone Age animals.  We found out that some weapons were better to hunt with than others.
 
This activity helped to develop children's Curiosity, Life Skills, Self Esteem, Self Belief, Resilience and Perseverance, in accordance with Mowbray's core values.
Mulberry and Maple Class were excited to take part in 'Stone Age Workshop' in the Autumn Term.  The 'Stone Age lady' who visited us, showed us replicas of objects from the Stone Age.  We had the opportunity to hold in our hands stone and bronze axes, flint knives, arrows and bowls.  During the afternoon workshop, we all made our own clay bowl, which has gone away to be fired.  We are all really looking forward to getting them back!!
 
These workshops encouraged our Curiosity, Life Skills, Aspiration, Self Esteem, Self Belief, Resilience and Perseverance.
Mulberry and Maple Class joined forces with a trip to Choppington Woods to take part in a Maths trail.  Children participated in many Maths-based activities, including: using natural materials found in the woodland environment to represent the place value of numbers, before joining with other groups of children to add them together.  We also looked at the symmetry of leaves of different tree species as well as trying to measure the speed of flow of the stream.
 
This learning outside of the classroom, helped to develop the children's Curiosity, Risk, Self Awareness, Self Esteem, Resilience and Perseverance, in line with Mowbray's core values.
Larch Class enjoyed a lovely Autumn Walk as part of their learning in Science, to see the changes in the outdoor environment that are affected by this season.
 
This developed the children's Curiosity and Self Awareness, according to Mowbray's values.
Larch Class made the long journey to Choppington Woods to take part in Maths-based activities, including using natural materials to practise counting skills and making 2d shapes.
 
This learning outside the classroom developed children's Curiosity, Life Skills, Self Belief, Self Esteem and Perseverance.
Larch Class took their Maths learning outside again, this time using sticks to make their own number sentences.  This encouraged children's Curiosity, Life Skills, Self Awareness and Self Belief.
Willow Class went to Choppington Woods, to complete a variety of Maths-based activities, including looking for evidence of tessellated shapes, 2d and 3d shapes in the environment, estimating and rounding to the nearest 100, how many footsteps it would take to walk around the woodland area, identifying sets of parallel lines and estimating height of trees.
 
This helped to encourage the children to develop their Curiosity, Life Skills, Aspiration, Self Awareness, Self Esteem, Self Belief, Resilience and Perseverance, in accordance with our school's core values.