Grow to School CIC

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What will students see and do?

Grow to School believes anything that can be taught inside can also be part of an outdoor curriculum. The programme seeks to inspire greater use of school grounds to broaden and deepen curriculum learning.

Schools can choose from plans that revolve around outdoor learning in general and Growbag, which focuses specifically on gardening and food growing. With both, students spend time outside with physical activity tied to classroom learning plans.

Outdoor learning includes games and activities tied to specific subjects while offering opportunities for students to build confidence, learn to assess risk and develop behaviour management skills.

Growbag works to help schools and teachers get the maximum benefit from their garden. The year-round programme provides the school with a professional to help deliver gardening sessions. Depending on the package you choose, the school can receive seeds, plants, diary, bed plan, instruction sheets and planting cards for the garden.

How does the trip link to the curriculum?

The Grow to School programme provides training bespoke to your school, including ideas and tips for embedding outdoor learning and food growing. Your school receives tips and tricks for maximising your outdoor space to tap into as many learning opportunities as possible. Teachers are trained on outdoor learning and how to tie it to the national curriculum.

The programme works with entire classes and teaching staff, as well as smaller nurture groups across EYFS and key stages 1 and 2.

The outdoor lessons work to increase problem-solving, communication and teamwork skills and incorporate science, geography, history and D&T. Cross-curricular links connect the lessons to PE, art, maths and English. Each lesson has clear learning objectives built in along with detailed instructions.

Examples of lessons and games that tie into the curriculum include a stone-age hunting game. Students learn how prehistoric societies tracked down food, tapping into lessons in history and science. A local animals relay team game brings in maths and science, along with teamwork and communication concepts.

Another activity called Habitats – The Estate Agent covers a lot of different subject areas from D&T to literacy to maths. Students use persuasive language to help different animals and characters sell their homes.

Subjects covered

Communication Skills

Confidence Building

D&T

Drama

EYFS – Communication & Language

EYFS – Personal, Social & Emotional Development

EYFS – Physical Development

EYFS – Understanding the World

Engineering

English

Geography

History

Maths

PSHE/RSHE

Problem Solving

STEM

Science

Team Building

Teaching resources provided

The programme provides many outdoor curriculum resources for teachers and works with your staff to develop any additional ones as needed to create a bespoke learning experience. The Grow to School staff works to integrate classroom planning with lessons that meet all your needs. These include a plan to show the learning, full risk assessments and all the resources needed for the lessons.

Among the resources provided are 25 lessons in a wellbeing pack that revolve around five different areas, including awareness, giving and connecting. The lessons are labelled for the appropriate key stage level and lay out learning objectives, health and safety concerns and detailed instructions.

Another support pack provides 15 activities designed for use outside that can help build confidence and help you find new ways to use your grounds for learning. Each lesson is labelled by key stage and includes tips and resources needed.

Grow to School also offers help with tying outdoor learning back to different subjects, such as KS2 literacy, drama and cross-curricular topics. Through Growbag, teachers receive support to teach children how to work a garden, ways to make gardening sessions meaningful and connect food growing to the curriculum.

Minimum and maximum group size

Grow to School works with your school as a whole so there is no set minimum or maximum number to be involved in the program. The lesson plans do break student groups into smaller teams to ensure each child can be engaged and involved in decisions.

Details of risk assessment

A large part of Grow to School’s outdoor learning program is to involve teachers and students in dynamic risk assessments so they learn to self-regulate and make appropriate choices in risky situations. Dynamic assessment considers the site and weather conditions at the moment, which can’t always be planned for in advance.

In addition, the program provides a risk assessment to educate teachers on the common hazards, risks and benefits of outdoor learning. These include toxins in the soil, injuries from rope, strains from lifting and interactions with animals.

Students are taught to look out for and manage their own risks and act appropriately. Teachers learn to write a risk assessment with an added column for benefits. Grow to School provides assistance to help you fill out your school’s template, consider risks that might be unique to your school and develop controls that can be done to minimise them.

PLANNING

Don't miss our downloadable A-Z guide on completing a risk assessment

icon for A-Z guide on completing a risk assessment

Facilities on-site

Regardless of your facilities, Grow to School works with many schools that have little more than a tarmacked playground to use for outdoor school. The grow team taps into whatever nature is found around your school, from wind to weeds.

Opening times

Grow to School comes to your school to work with you on creating and delivering outdoor learning to supplement your classroom plans. As a result, they work within your schedule and open hours.

Pricing

Grow to School prices its work into packages based on a per-day cost rather than per pupil. The package prices take into account the amount of time and support your school wants and needs for its outdoor learning program.

For outdoor learning, you can choose from three packages that include bespoke lessons and support for one big day or once a week for a year. These packages include:

WOW day outdoors – Single-day visit, £230 a day

Part-time outdoors – Visits scheduled to suit your budget, £220 a day

Whole-year outdoors – One day a week and training for your staff, £210 a day

For Growbag, your package choices involve either DIY options or full support from the Grow to School staff. These packages include:

DIY Growbag – all resources except for seeds, plants and training – £300

Hassle-free DIY – all resources including seeds, plants and training – £700

Maximum support – all available resources, plus six bespoke gardening days with a practitioner – £2,000

You also have the option to bring on Grow to School to provide continuing professional development for your teaching staff to help them better deliver on outdoor learning. The pricing for CPD includes travel up to 25 miles. Training packages are as follows:

Whole-school inset day – £350

Whole-school half day – £300

Twilight sessions – £200

Travel arrangements

Because Grow to School comes to you, there are no travel arrangements to worry about to have your students participate in this program as opposed to a traditional school field trip.