Pool of Memories provides opportunities to link into the National Curriculum at key stage two in two main areas, History and PHSE and Citizenship.  It also links into the Learning Outside of the Classroom agenda.  This is a broad term that includes visits to venues, cultural and historical sites, outdoor play in the early years, school grounds projects, environmental education, recreational and adventure activities. What all these activities share is the notion of direct experience and the chance for pupils to see, hear, touch and smell the `real thing’.

Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) is the use of places other than the classroom for teaching and learning. It is about getting children and young people out and about, providing them with challenging, exciting and different experiences to help them learn.

Learning outside the classroom can provide opportunities for curriculum to be brought to life in an exciting and multi-sensory way and for learning to take place through hands on discovery. This kind of learning very often happens in areas where actions have real results and consequences.

Through skilled teaching, interpretation or facilitation, experiences beyond the classroom readily become a stimulating source of fascination, personal growth and breakthroughs in learning. Active learning readily develops the learning skills of enquiry, experimentation, feedback, reflection, review and cooperative learning and by travelling outside of their usual classroom context children start to draw on and develop their social skills.

Although learning outside of the classroom takes place away from the school environment, the experience can serve as an extremely valuable resource and stimulus for ongoing classroom based learning.

For more information visit www.lotc.org.uk

The programme also links into SEAL (Social & Emotional Aspects of Learning)