Mapping habitats within the outdoor curriculum at Larkholme Primary School
Larkholme Primary School in Lancashire have a strong outdoor curriculum which they've established over the last five years. They've been bringing in Nature Park resources and activities – including habitat mapping – into their outdoor lessons.
During the pandemic, with more learning taking place outside during this time, staff saw the opportunities for teaching and learning within their grounds and began to think with the pupils about how they could make better use of their outdoor spaces. Since then, the outdoor curriculum has become more established, particularly in response to the rise in children with mental health and wellbeing needs.
All children at the school have an outdoor session every fortnight all year round. It's designed to be progressive, with each half term having a different focus which is revisited each year, so pupils can build on the skills and knowledge throughout their time at the school. These topics include wellbeing and first aid, map skills, bushcraft and storytelling and the outdoors, so by the time that children reach Year 6, they have an in depth understanding of these areas.
Rebecca Sims is the Outdoor Learning Coordinator at Larkholme, who registered them for the Nature Park and has been threading Nature Park activities and resources throughout the outdoor curriculum, particularly the mapping your site activities. "The mapping your site resources fit really well with our map skills topic, and the children really enjoy doing it because it's so pertinent to them – it's our grounds," said Rebecca. "We can ask questions like what have we got, what would we like more of, and what can we see? They also love the fact they are part of a big research project!".
After creating their site boundary, Rebecca picked a couple of resources that would fit with lesson topics like the 3D maps and poetry. It’s helped freshen up their units and tie in with what they already have planned, before moving on to the habitat mapping activities. As it's all about exploring and knowing your grounds, it fits really well with their outdoor curriculum, inspiring children to think about what else they can do.
At the time of writing, Larkholme have mapped three habitat types so far. With three classes in Year 5 and 6 they've been able to take on one each – discussing it together with the teacher before going off and doing it quite independently. Rebecca explains how they did it!
Grass and wildflowers
"The first class started with mapping grass and wildflower habitats. They loved it – they thought grass was just the short green grass we have on mown playing fields, but the flowcharts taught them about the different types and we now have islands of grass that we leave to grow long so they can see that it’s different and gets seedheads."
Mapping tree habitats
"Then the second group mapped our tree habitats – the class did tree surveys to look at the different types of trees they had. Some found it easier than others but they really got the idea of what they could see, and tallying up the different types of trees they found. For some pupils it was the first time they’d done bark rubbing which they thought was amazing!”
Microhabitats
"The third group mapped our microhabitats. I gave them a copy of an aerial view of our site map, and then they went round with the microhabitats worksheets and ticked off what they found, before marking on the map where it was. They were really pleased to see that we had quite a lot, and then we had a conversation around what isn’t on there, and is it something we’d like to consider having there in the future. We’re looking into putting some bee hotels in next!”
What's next at Larkholme?
Now three habitats are mapped, the plan is to now work through the other habitat types and Rebecca will upload the findings onto the Nature Park website using the Habitat Mapper tool. They will then look through it together in their next outdoor sessions to check that the pupils agree and understand, and they can explore it together as a class.
At Larkholme, they continually want to encourage the children to think about what’s next. Following the enthusaiam for bee hotels, Rebecca is looking at where this can fit into outdoor sessions in the future.
We involve children in the whole process, from planting and growing to watering and grounds maintenance. They care for their grounds with different groups doing different things, and they get up to all sorts! We have keen litter pickers, a group that have built a dead hedge, groups that add woodchip to muddy areas, and talk to them throughout the processes so they can understand how and why we do these things for both wildlife and the school community."
Rebecca Sims, Outdoor Learning Coordinator at Larkholme Primary School
Rebecca's top tips for habitat mapping and transforming your site
Pick the habitat types you know you have and start with those – if you have a bit of a concrete jungle, I’d be looking at the ground without plants, and then begin from there. Once you have the beginning of your map, it’s a lovely opportunity for that pupil voice to come through as you ask them what they’d like to see next. You can plan it with the pupils and really get them involved with that development.
Splitting up habitats between groups works really well – with eight different habitat types, the habitat mapping activities give children similar outdoor learning experiences, but means they can each contribute something different. So, they are learning similar skills and knowledge but all of their work comes together to build the overall baseline map.
Bring the community in – where there is a will, there’s a way, and things don’t have to be a huge expense. People will bring in tyres for free, or drop off their old Christmas trees. Find a good local tree surgeon for woodchips and make friends with your local garden centre who might be able to donate things!
Focus on where you are currently at and go from there – even if you don’t have a big or green outdoor space, the programme works so you can still get involved whatever your starting point and you have so much potential to make a difference for nature!
