The Outdoors Group Podcast

In this episode, we were delighted to be joined by Assistant Headteacher, Beverley Garland and Lead Tutor, Emily Woolls, for a real feel-good chat! They joined me to talk about some real life stories of learners from The Outdoors School who they have worked with over the last 6 years. We talked about some of the learners who have stood out most, stories of young people massively overcoming obstacles to go on to thrive, and shared some of their favourite anecdotes from working with kids at our school. It was a lovely conversation and great to hear so many success stories from young people who were struggling in past educational settings before coming to join us! It was also a fantastic topic for our last episode of The Outdoors Group Podcast as we're now taking a pause from the podcast for a while to focus on other exciting projects.

In this episode we were delighted to be joined by Dr Gill Barrett, the Education Director at Autism Unlimited and Dan Garbutt, the Assistant Head & SENCO at The Outdoors School. We met online to discuss how we can, and more importantly, how we should, measure success in SEN schools. They threw out traditional metrics and explained why looking at things like reduced interventions, attendance, and academic achievement are not helpful when looking at how learners are getting on at school. Rather they had a fantastic conversation about taking a holistic, individualised approach to measuring success and gave some examples of what success could look like for SEN learners. The conversation took an interesting tangent as we started to touch on large scale changes that they wish to see to improve educational settings for both learners and staff, on a national level. It was a brilliant conversation and one that we were very glad to have had. You can find out more about the work Gill does with Autism Unlimited at www.autism-unlimited.org.

In this episode, we were delighted to be joined by our Behaviour Lead, Matt McMann to talk about regulation and why it should be at the centre of any educational approach.We discussed the difference between emotional and nervous-system regulation and looked at how we can support learners, initially through co-regulation and then through other techniques, to learn how to regulate themselves. We delved into Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Matt explained how important it is for those of us working with young people to ensure their basic needs are met so that they can be regulated and in a positive emotional space to access learning. We also looked at how we, at The Outdoors School, work with our learners to support them with regulation and what this looks like in practice. As always, another great conversation and hopefully one that is really useful to both parents and educators listening!

In this episode, we continue the conversation with Dr Naomi Fisher and Craig Vincent, in which they discussed how to build a provision that actually works for learners with SEND, SEMH and trauma. In this second half of the conversation, Naomi explains that relationship and flexibility must be at the core of any successful provision. We talked about how meeting each learner where they are and working with them on an individual basis is the key to learner success on a holistic level. Craig and Naomi talked about building educational systems and provisions that work for all learners, not just those who may be attending special schools. We also discussed the importance of taking an approach in which learners are empowered to take charge of their own journeys, in which they gain resilience through learning from failed attempts and in which they are supported through a relational foundation. It was an inspiring and encouraging conversation and one that we were delighted to facilitate. You can find out more about Naomi's work at www.naomifisher.co.uk.

In this episode, we were so delighted to be joined once again by the fantastic Dr Naomi Fisher. She joined myself and Craig Vincent, our Executive Improvement Lead, at the South Brent site of The Outdoors School to talk about how to design an educational provision that actually works for SEN learners. In this first half of the episode, Naomi and Craig dove deep into what doesn't work. They drew on their experience of working in schools and with a whole range of different learners to look at the elements of the mainstream educational system that just don't work for learners. We talked about the challenges that learners may face whilst at school and why sometimes, it's hard for the current system to meet those needs. We discussed how we measure educational success, why one size doesn't fit all and looked at the discrepancies between how we treat children in school versus how we'd treat adults in a workplace.It was a really interesting and thought provoking conversation which left a lot lingering to explore further and we can't wait to share the second half of the episode with you, in which they turn to solutions and start to talk about what DOES work when building an effective educational provision that meets learners where they are.

In this episode, we were delighted to sit down with one of our Assistant SENDCo's Hannah Gill to discuss how an outdoor learning environment can particularly support learners with complex sensory needs. We talked about the difference between hyper and hypo sensory seeking, what it is about the outdoors that can be a soothing setting for both and talked about the practical applications for facilitators and teachers supporting learners with complex sensory needs.It was a really interesting and thought provoking conversation and one that we think will be useful for both teachers and parents who might be listening.

We're at the start of another season of The Outdoors Group Podcast and this time round, we'll be focusing on all things SEND related. So it seemed fitting that our first episode would be looking at the recent government white paper which focuses on inclusion and SEND within schools. In this episode, we sat down with Co-CEO Shevek Pring to discuss the paper 'Every Child Achieving and Thriving' and to look at the implications of it for those working in education. We talked about the benefits of embedding enrichment into the curriculum and about how important inclusion done well is to learning communities. We also spoke about the challenges that the paper brings, from those around funding (we picked apart the headline '£4 billion for schools' to look at what that actually works out to in reality) to a curriculum that is already too full and busy for teachers to manage, without adding in anything new. We also addressed the concerns that it will raise for parents and carers who are already struggling to get the needs of their children met and for those working in Alternative Provisions as the government aims to bring their work in house. Although these challenges seem daunting, Shev also brought optimism and hope as he explained how we can interpret the paper as an invitation for change, and an opportunity for educators to come together to work collaboratively and share expertise, resources and knowledge. It was a balanced and nuanced discussion and one that left us feeling hopeful about how the education community can and might work together to do the best thing for learners around the country. If you want to be part of our conversations around this, please do get in touch to be updated of any events we're running for the education community. You can find our details at www.outdoorsgroup.co.uk

SEASON BREAK BONUS EPISODE! In this episode, we were pleased to be joined by three guests. We were joined by Nick Burnett, the Director of Learning & Innovation at PRICE Training, our Executive Inclusion Lead Doug Stein and one of our Woodland Learning Support Assistants Georgia Pennicott-Gibson. They jumped online to talk to me about PRICE Training, which runs courses looking at 'positive approaches to challenging behaviour', in schools and other settings. Commonly called 'restraint training', we talked about why this is actually a misnomer and delved into the actual focus of these courses which are about de-escalation and supporting learners with emotional regulation. We discussed the ethos of PRICE Training as well as the real world application of their courses in our work at The Outdoors School and how our staff have been responding to taking part in these training courses. It was a really useful and interesting conversation and one we were glad to have and be able to share with our staff, other folk working in education and parents of children who may sometimes struggle with regulation. In fact, we thought it was so important to share that we've released it as a one-off episode whilst we're in our season break!

In this, our final episode of Season 7 of the podcast, we were delighted to be sat around the campfire, once more, with Tom Lowday, Co-CEO of The Outdoors Group and Neil Martin, our Lead Trainer. They joined me to talk about the evolution of our Forest School Leader Training provision. Having run it for over a decade now, we discussed how it all started, their experience of delivering this training over the years and where it's going now. We discussed why we never run out of people who want to do this training, discussed how important outdoor education and Forest School is in this day and age and talked about the challenges that the current generation of young people face and how Forest School can help them in a variety of ways - from giving them an appreciation and desire to protect the natural world to providing some screen-free time and helping encourage creative pursuits to increasing their emotional resilience and wellbeing. As always, it was an absolute pleasure to put the world to rights with these two and we hope that you find it just as interesting and inspiring as we did.

In this episode we were delighted to talk to Bracken Van Ryssen. Bracken is based in Birmingham and is the person behind Bracken Outdoors; he is a fantastic outdoor educator who runs sessions and training in his area and also has a fantastic bushcraft YouTube channel and podcast. We discussed his route to outdoor education and what he loves about it, the sessions and training he delivers and Forest School Leader Training in general. We also took a deep dive into the challenging topic of money - looking at the sustainability of working in outdoor education, how possible it is to do it as a career and the challenges that those working in the industry face. It was a really interesting and we think, much needed, conversation and a pleasure to have. As always, if you'd like to join in the conversation, please do leave us a comment or get in touch. You can find out more about Bracken and his work at www.brackenoutdoors.com.