We already had the manor house and 22 acres of grounds, including walled Victorian gardens and extensive mixed woodland. But that was not enough to satisfy our craving for outdoor learning spaces for the pupils who attend our specialist provision.

Over time, the school has renovated a Victorian greenhouse, added farm animals in a purpose-built animal area, installed a yurt and, most recently, converted an old dairy building to provide our Ingrid Sidmouth Outdoor Learning Centre.

The last should give you an idea of what we are all about at this school: this is what education looks like when you don’t just “do” outdoor learning but when outdoor learning is education.

Our school’s ethos is securely based on “doing what is best for the child”. We believe that outdoor education is the central pillar of achieving just that. By utilising the amazing grounds and outdoor environment, we can offer learning experiences and qualifications that emphasise the development of social communication alongside functional skills, better preparing students for the challenge of change and the diversity of the community in which they live and learn.

So, what does this look like in practice?

In part, it means timetabled outdoor learning for every child. In the first three years, the curriculum is formed around the Rowdeford School Tree Awards. This is a suite of awards that recognise student achievements in practical outdoor skills - such as planting vegetables, looking after tools and cooking on a camp fire - as well as in the areas of cooperation, communication, resilience, independence and problem solving.

These achievements link directly to national curriculum levels in English, maths and personal, social and health education, and closely to other curriculum areas. Then, in Years 10 and 11, students get to develop those skills further with nationally recognised qualifications in horticulture, care of farm animals and the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Outdoor learning: animal magic

Outside of these specific classes, all lessons are expected to have an outdoor element. Leaders at the school only appoint staff who share and buy into the benefits of using outdoor experiences to enhance learning. It would not be unusual to see the maths class go outside to practise their maths skills by counting trees, or leaves or how many tadpoles they can catch in the school’s nature pond. All subjects find a way of bringing their curriculum to life by moving their classroom to the outside, whether it’s as simple as reading while sitting on the grass or recreating the Battle of the Somme in the school’s woodland.

A particularly memorable experience during a recent humanities day was the making of Viking longboats followed by the “Year 9 Vikings” using their fine vessels to go to capture the “Year 7 Celts”.

I think this typifies Rowdeford School: the first thing visitors comment on when entering is the intense feelings of joy and happiness that emanate from students and staff - a wonderful magical place where climbing trees is an actual curriculum lesson.

Outside of lessons, positive social interactions and a desire to participate are further gained through the school’s use of animals. The farm animals on the site are not just an educational resource but an unquantifiable benefit for the students. Many students demonstrate positive behaviour characteristics as soon as they are around the sheep, pigs and hens. Recently, while working with newly hatched baby chicks, a boisterous group were totally captivated and calmed instantly, totally engaged with listening and the responsibility of holding another tiny life in their hands.

Rowdeford has also formed a partnership with a local farmer, who regularly brings his stock of therapy animals - including rabbits, guinea pigs, sheep, Shetland ponies and cattle - to the school. You can often hear the somewhat surreal shouting of the children in the playground when the farmer’s truck pulls into the drive, telling everyone, “Dave’s brought the alpacas today”.

And what about the food? The children grow the vegetables and look after the animals and, when the time is right, the kitchen cooks the fruits of their labour and serves them up as school dinners. Not only is it tasty organic food with zero food miles but it’s a vital lesson of food provenance for students with special educational needs and disability (SEND).

Minibeasts, giant benefits

The impact of all of the above is huge. We see students grow in confidence, learn to set goals and tackle challenges. Students who are hesitant to get dirty gain the self-confidence to jump ditches, climb trees and study minibeasts. We teach children with SEND not to avoid risks but to be able to measure and manage risk. They learn how to look after themselves and stay safe in the outdoors with activities such as fire lighting, using garden equipment such as loppers, and looking after the occasionally cantankerous pig.

The message is clear from our work: more time spent engaged in outdoor learning and play has tremendous benefit for all children in terms of their behaviour and mental health.

And we have been recognised for this: the school has received a gold award from the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom - a first for a UK special school, recognising the extremely high quality of this particular aspect of the school’s work.

In the future, we hope to share this approach with more schools. We know it works and we want others to see that it can work for them, too.

Terri Chard is deputy headteacher at Rowdeford School in Wiltshire

This article originally appeared in the 10 April 2020 issue under the headline “Why we turned our classrooms inside out”