Leading Your Own School Learning Activity in the Parks
It is almost always free of charge for teachers to use the parks for students if they are running a session themselves. However, you will need to gain permission from The Parks Trust team to ensure that the activity meets with our health and safety requirements and does not clash with other activities that may already be taking place in the park.
In order for you to run your own activity in our parks, we ask that you follow the guidance for licensed activities and contact events@theparkstrust.com. As part of this process we will require a Risk Assessment, booking form and public liability insurance for your visit.
Suggestions for schools wanting to run activities in the park:
- If you have a park very close to your school, why not look at making this a regular part of your timetable? Could you get parental permission for the year to take children to that park without having to organise it as a new trip each time? Having a license from us to use the park means you could do lots of pre and post activities on the site in between sessions that you have booked with our outdoor learning team.
- To save time, consider starting or ending the school day in the park. If parents/carers can drop off or pick up from the park you could cut your journey time by 50%, leaving more time for learning.
- Consider outdoor learning as a pedagogy rather than a curriculum. With some imaginative planning, every subject can be taught outside! We can offer staff development/training sessions to help your staff think outside the box (and the school building!) to look at how getting students outdoors can bring a breath of fresh air to their learning in any subject.
If you have any questions or would like ideas about how your school could use your local park for sessions, please get in touch at outdoorlearning@theparkstrust.com
