6 Outdoor Education and Learning Strategy 2022 Progress Update PDF 132 KB
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Minutes:
Sarah Cox, Place Based Co-ordinator confirmed to the Committee that she was very new to the post, and thanked Sarah Tregaskis, Head of School Services & Post-16 Education for attending the meeting as support.
Sarah Cox confirmed that the Outdoor Education and Learning Strategy was not about the direct delivery of services but about enabling schools to develop their own outdoor education programme.
The following points were highlighted to the Committee –
· 43% of schools in the county have now engaged meaningfully with the strategy. This includes primary, secondary and special schools.
· An online event took place in June on ‘Why Teach Inside?’, with 25 attendees.
· Opportunities for future sessions have been identified, which include promoting webinars available from the National Education Nature Park and Eco-Schools.
· Since April 2023, there have been 635 views of the Homepage for the website. The next highest number of views is for the Education Visits page (at 464 views), followed by the webpage on Grants and Funding (at 257 views).
· The Committee noted that the website is kept up to date but that it could benefit from more promotion and that this is something that the team is currently working on.
· With reference to the current delivery plan, it was confirmed that 34% of the actions have been completed. 38% of the actions are in progress and will progress after recruitments has been completed. The delivery plan will be refreshed after recruitment.
· A number of schools have applied for funding support for wildlife gardens and sensory gardens.
· Working with wider partners such as libraries and country parks has been completed and this means that improved offers to school are now underway.
The Chair thanked the officers for the report adding that it was an excellent report and that the enthusiasm of officers could be seen during the presentation.
Following a question in relation to how Councillors could support the programme, it was confirmed that the majority of the information is on the website and that the information is kept as local as possible so referring schools and others to the website is the best support at this point.
Councillor Jerry Roodhouse asked if there were any links to work with the district and borough councils, or Public Health. Adding, that he felt the report was very positive, especially the sustainability of the programme. It was confirmed that some work had been completed with local leisure providers but that it would perhaps be worth officers re-establishing contact with the district and boroughs.
Councillor Barbara Brown commented that it was nice to see how the strategy had progressed and how it continues to move forward. Following a question from Councillor Brown in relation to the collection of feedback, Sarah Tregaskis confirmed that work is underway on a feedback kit that can be sent to schools and that it will include a self-evaluation and participation tool kit.
Resolved
That the Children and Young Peoples Overview and Scrutiny Committee note the progress of the Warwickshire County Council Outdoor Education ... view the full minutes text for item 6