Using Outdoor Learning to Improve Behaviour for All

Taking the Wellie Wednesday journey together

Sarah Rockliff, Pauline Chinnery

• Publisher: David Fulton Publishers
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781138942875
• eBook ISBN: 9781317374466
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Using Outdoor Learning to Improve Behaviour for All focuses on teachers, parents and carers working together and creating environments in the classroom, home and particularly outdoors where all children can experience positive feedback and develop good learning behaviours.

It tells the story of the Wellie Wednesday project and the journeys children took with their families and schools to achieve success. Based on attachment theory and research in psychology and neuroscience, this practical book will support practitioners, parents, carers and children, who find themselves in negative cycles and situations, to take steps forward to a positive future.

Focusing on real situations and the needs of individual children and their families, this accessible guide is divided into four sections:

• Making a difference: for individual children, their parents, carers and schools.
• Can I be included? Case studies, including impact on family and school, strategies used, changes noticed and key questions raised.
• Addressing concerns: understanding behaviour as communication.
• How change happened: enriching learning to improve behaviour.

Offering a wide collection of case studies and practical strategies, Using Outdoor Learning to Improve Behaviour for All will be an essential resource for all teachers, parents and carers wanting to support and guide children towards accessing education successfully.

Part I

Making a difference

For individual children, their parents, carers and schools

Chapter 1

Building a picture of Wellie Wednesday

He drew a circle that shut me out – heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the will to win: we drew a circle that took him in!

(Edwin Markham)

How it seems to me…

When I am shouted at, I want to shout back.

When I am told to hurry, I want to go slower.

When I am stopped, I want to bite or kick.

When I see a door, I want to run.

When I see a table, I want to go under it.

When I see a chair, I want to knock it over.

When I see a window, I want to climb out.

When I am given a task, I want to mess it up.

When I am asked to write, I throw things.

When someone shows kindness, compassion and understanding, then I am curious.

I try, and begin to get things right.

When I see trees, I want to explore.

When I hear birds, I enjoy listening.

When I belong, I can enjoy having fun.

When I feel safe, I can make mistakes.

When I feel valued, I can join in.

When I am given time, I can understand.

When I am understood, I can think more clearly.

When people believe in me, I feel I can do it.

When others are kind to me, I want to be kind too.

(P. Chinnery and S. Rockliff)

Setting up the project

When the Wellie Wednesday project was set up, the aim was to build a supportive team around each child and their primary carer; to provide comfort and reassurance to children who had become troubled at school; to offer practical, supportive and positive advice and ideas to the parent or carer; to offer professional and alternative ideas to the teachers and teaching assistants in school. The aim was to ensure that everyone felt included and valued. The diagram, Concentric circles of experience (Figure 1.1), uses concentric circles to represent the interconnection between the individual’s need for a secure base and sense of belonging, in order to successfully engage with the wider world.

Figure 1.1 Concentric circles of experience.

Source: © Authors.

Foundations of the project

For some children, the school environment can seem threatening and trigger negative responses, preventing them from learning. Through the project the children’s curiosity about learning was awakened, resulting in a more positive approach to school.

At Wellie Wednesday, an environment for learning was created for families that was different from their previous experience; it offered experiential learning in a nurturing and enriching outdoor environment. The structuring of the project was based upon previous work. It had been noticed that a school camping trip for a class of seven- to eight-year-old children had brought about considerable change in relationships and self-esteem. Children who had been argumentative and abrasive with each other in school began to cooperate and interact positively with each other in the rural environment. From previous experience in the small group work pilot project (see Chapter 18), it had become evident that groups of four children worked well, allowing each child opportunities to talk and be listened to, which in turn allowed time to explore and extend their thinking. With more than four children, the listening time required became unsustainable for them.

It had also been noticed in school that in order to bring about change for children, it was vital to work in close partnership with parents and carers.

The project was therefore set up for four children and their primary carers to attend. These included foster, adoptive, and step parents as well as birth parents. In some cases a teaching assistant who was significant for a particular child attended.

A day at Wellie Wednesday

The children and adults were transported to what seemed to them to be like another world for six consecutive Wednesdays. The driver and another member of the team collected them from their schools and travelled fifteen miles by minibus to the outdoor activity centre where the project took place. The day started here, as attention to detail was core to the success of the project; the driver and escort had been chosen for their abilities to start the day by building optimistic expectations and by keeping conversations positive.

The location

The sessions were based mainly in a small rough field with surrounding trees. A pathway led into woodland and beyond to larger fields and the stream. Within the field there was an open shelter with a fire in the ground, two wooden tables and planks on logs for sitting together. Additional small camping chairs were used, which the children were able to move from place to place themselves. There was a tent large enough for all to sit in together near the shelter and two toilets with washing facilities.

An additional benefit was that behind the field there was an enclosed secure area with a small pond and a large caged area where red squirrels were bred for release into specified wild areas. Memorable awe and wonder moments were provided for the adults and children as together they watched the squirrels, and the children helped the wardens to feed them.

Individual secure base

Within the field four small tents were set up, one for each child, as their own safe, secure base. At the first session children were told this was their personal space, their tent was just for them. They were given a fleece blanket, a soft toy and a pillow and given time to settle in and arrange their tent. In subsequent weeks they were given individual quiet, calming activities, a range of books (fiction and non-fiction), word searches, notepad and pens. They each had a large labelled bag where all their personal belongings were kept safe from week to week. Each child made their name using pebbles; this was photographed to use as a label for their tent. This, with a photograph, was attached to their tent to give reassurance that they would return to the same safe place each week.

Social space: establishing the group

An ethos was created that promoted feelings of acceptance and respect. Children felt safe to take on new experiences and challenges. The beliefs, which were sung or spoken by the whole group at the beginning of each session, were:

We are kind to each other.

We follow instructions.

We keep ourselves and each other safe.

We look after the Wellie Wednesday environment.

These basic beliefs underpinned Wellie Wednesday and were used as reminders to maintain a sense of group cohesion and to promote positive interactions.

The wider world

The children became increasingly curious about the world around them and grew to respect and appreciate the natural environment. Being outdoors enabled them to transcend into a new world. The aim was to introduce the group to a wider world where it was hoped that they would develop a sense of awe and wonder.

Explore nature with all our senses, feelings and emotions, for the foundation of learning is in what we love. Experience a sense of wonder so indestructible it will last throughout life.

(The Sense of Wonder, Rachel Carson, 1965)

Occasionally, specialist visitors were invited to join a group session in order to broaden the children’s experience and to support them in learning how to respond appropriately to meeting new adults, for example, not being overly familiar or highly fearful. Visitors were carefully chosen, according to the group’s needs, to contribute a particular expertise, for example, orienteering, pond dipping, sheep dog training, conservation and listening to musicians.

Activities

The project was carefully planned beforehand to ensure that a range of supportive and stimulating activities were introduced to the group to encourage group identity, cooperation, responsibility and to raise feelings of self-worth. As the weeks progressed, the children and their adults were introduced to the Hope Family, a selection of models and puppets whose stories provided a vehicle to learn about thoughts, feelings and behaviour (see Figure 1.2).

A guided visualisation, the Rainbow Garden, was used to create a soothing mental image to regularly return to. Children frequently referred to using this ‘safe place’ to go to when they were unable to sleep. For some children, disturbing images and intrusive thoughts make any times of quiet potentially distressing. Providing imagery for a beautiful place and instruction for good things to happen in their imagination gave children a pleasurable experience. The priority for the team was to focus on the present and the future, whilst acknowledging the impact of early trauma; we believe that the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) team specialists best address the past. However, it was important to enable times of quiet to be experienced positively. During the residential camp, the children benefited from the visualisation to send them off to sleep happily and they were quick to ask for it again over the following nights (see Chapter 16).

Figure 1.2 The Hope family.

Source: © Authors.

Narrative therapy approaches were used in conversations to encourage the children to engage in problem-solving of the things they were finding difficult. They were especially helpful during follow-up visits, when each child had time to explore thinking differently about what was hampering them, using the insight and positive attitude they had gained from attending the project (see Chapter 10).

At the end of each session the team evaluated the day and identified individual targets for each child and the group focus for the following week. These were then woven into the plans for the subsequent weeks and children were encouraged to work on targets in school and at home and return with some good news to tell at breakfast time the following week. A target chart was introduced for the whole group (see Figure 1.3). Children gradually realised that adults were continually noticing and celebrating what they were getting right.

During the day, notes were made to record children’s responses to the activities. Compliments were given to every child and adult and these were shared at circle time at the end of each session. During the week these were typed, printed and laminated for them to take home the following week. These built a positive picture for each person and acted as a transitional object between the project, home and school.

Figure 1.3 Getting It Right target chart.

Source: © Authors.

Ending each day

A quiet ‘one minute’ for reflection was incorporated into the end of the day, using a candle to focus the mind and listen to the sounds of the countryside. Everyone was invited to share a beautiful thought if they wished; this usually related to their favourite part of that day.

At the end of the day, one member of the staff joined the driver to take everyone back to their own school. This enabled them to ensure the day ended well. It was another opportunity for group members to talk together about the day and sing songs from the Wellie Wednesday Song Book relating to the daily activities.

Evaluation a...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I Making a difference For individual children, their parents, carers and schools
• Chapter 1 Building a picture of Wellie Wednesday
• Chapter 2 The valued contribution of parents, carers and other significant adults
• Part II Can I be included? Case studies, including impact on family and school, strategies used, changes noticed and key questions raised
• Chapter 3 Yasmin Daring to join in
• Chapter 4 Amber Picking up speed
• Chapter 5 Ashley Safe to like and be liked
• Chapter 6 Sammy Finding the need to speak
• Chapter 7 Ella Attention seeking or attention needing?
• Chapter 8 Ned Persevering pays off
• Part III Addressing concerns Understanding behaviour as communication
• Introduction to the case studies Addressing concerns
• Chapter 9 Language and communication skills What is special about Shaun?
• Chapter 10 Narrative conversations to find solutions What is special about Dillon?
• Chapter 11 Anxiety-driven behaviour What is special about Elise?
• Chapter 12 Self-hatred and self-harming What is special about Kevin and Anna?
• Chapter 13 The competitive spirit What is special about Seth?
• Chapter 14 Building independence and responsibility What is special about Liam?
• Chapter 15 Food Too much? Too little? Fussy eater? Fearful?
• Part IV How change happened Enriching learning to improve behaviour
• Chapter 16 A summary of strategies A pathway to each child's successful future
• Chapter 17 Supporting parents and carers
• Chapter 18 The theoretical background Putting theory into practice
• Conclusion Transferring learning into school and some final thoughts
• Index