Out & About: learning in the real world
Going to school in the bush is great for lots of reasons. Our campus is natural, spacious, peaceful and beautiful. But we don’t want our students to miss out on being part of the community — in fact, our whole school goes into the community once a fortnight for one of our longest-standing programs: Out & About.
What is Out & About?
Quite simply, Out & About is a chance to interact, to make the most of our vibrant community and to teach our students valuable lessons about independence, safety and belonging. And it’s a lot of fun, too.
There are a few stalwart Out & About venues. Our students adore going to the Albany Public Library to check out new books, a swim at Albany Leisure Centre is another firm favourite. We’ll often take our lunches to Eyre Park for a play or visit attractions like the Brig Amity, the Museum of the Great Southern, the Discovery Centre or the Police Station Museum in Mt Barker.
What are the benefits of Out & About?
Our students love it because getting out into the community is good fun, but there other benefits as well:
Links to community: Learning about the resources that are available to them in their own community is invaluable for children. Out & About exposes them to community services, like the library, that they’ll access for life. Getting out and making connections with police officers, firies and other people whose job it is to keep people safe make students feel connected and cared for. And caring connection is what Woodbury Boston is all about.
Links to curriculum: As you will have read in our inquiry-based learning blog (part one AND part two!) our teachers work together with our students to generate topics of study that interest them. Out & About is a great opportunity to learn more about our favourite topics and our adventures often support the things we’re learning in class.
Links to real life: A super delicious part about Out & About is that our students often have the opportunity to order lunch — which is tasty as well as being an important life skill. Learning to look after their money, speak clearly to members of the public, and how to be safe and productive out in the community are skills that Woodbury Boston students develop during Out & About.
Community love
Out & About benefits the community as well — we’re regularly told that our students are well-mannered, interesting and downright delightful. It can be a lovely reminder for community members of the magic, excitement and sweetness of childhood. The school adults are always proud of our students when we are out in the community. They represent our school, and themselves, extremely well.
