Teachers in Oxfordshire are being urged to use their school grounds as an additional classroom for children.

A new survey shows schools are “rarely” using outdoor spaces for learning, despite the fact that 80 per cent of pupils said they enjoyed being taught outside.

Now Oxfordshire County Council and the charity Learning through Landscapes have launched a campaign called School Grounds Matter.

A guide and DVD have been produced for teachers, which has contact details for organisations that can help them move lessons into the playground.

Pupils at St John the Evangelist Primary School in Carterton have set up a maze, with their project incorporating many areas of the curriculum, including maths and the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.

East Oxford Primary School set out to create a vegetable garden and transform a corner of the playing field into a wildflower meadow.

“It’s been wonderful to see the children, particularly some of our most disadvantaged, gaining confidence and pride, getting involved in planting and harvesting things they’ve watched grow,” said East Oxford head Sue Widgery. km.