Eat, Sheep, Repeat
How an outdoor week of learning is transforming young lives
If we want our education system to raise resilient, confident, reflective citizens who have a consequential understanding of their place in society, we need to invest in authentic experiences outside the classroom, supported by pedagogy which more emphatically connects learning to the real world.Sarah, our Head of Learning Programmes Development
In all my years of teaching, this has been the best residential experience for our children. It’s just phenomenal the impact this week has had.Headteacher, OWL Primary School
The OWL Collaboration, which provides an Outdoor Week of Learning for children and young people aged 8 to 18, reached its 3-year milestone in 2024. From the outset, one of the programme’s remits was to monitor and evaluate the effects of spending a week outdoors on the thousands of young participants, then use this body of evidence to help effect real change at the decision-making levels of education and government.
We have now published our Summary Impact Report for the programme’s first three years, which succinctly presents the outcomes and learnings from this timely programme as well as key mechanisms of change, including routine and responsibility, limited access to technology and experiencing the outdoors in all elements.
Using pupil and teacher surveys, pupil postcards, reflective activities and teacher observations, we measured change, looking in particular for shifts in nature connectedness, care and concern for the environment, wellbeing, and engagement in learning.
Incorporating thematic qualitative analysis and statistically significant results, the resounding impact of the programme has been shown to be overwhelmingly positive, with three major themes emerging:
- pupils feel more connected to nature and to each other
- pupils have a new sense of purpose and their place in the natural world
- after an OWL, ‘grit and growth’ is apparent as classroom dynamics shift, learning mindsets flex and everyone has space to grow
I feel like before I was more shut in, I wanted to stay inside …I didn’t value nature as much as I did this week so I feel like I’ve been more connected to it.KS3 OWL pupil
One of our delivery partners, the Country Trust, produced this video of an OWL residential at our own Low Beckside Farm in Cumbria, it’s a beautiful capture of what an OWL encompasses:
Importantly, the programme adopts a holistic approach in its mission to change young lives. So, as well as funding immersive weeks in nature, we partner up and provide grants and support to help schools embed and sustain Outdoor Learning back in their own settings.
We also know that the biggest impact comes from working together, so we invest in building a community of practice and collective voice through our Network of valued OWL partners.
Sarah, our Head of Learning Programmes Development, tells us why she believes this report matters, and why the Trust is using it to help effect change at the highest levels:
This programme not only testifies to the importance of Outdoor Learning in helping to engage learners and to give them different opportunities to feel good and to experience success, it has implications for the type of schools we want to see where time in green spaces is prioritised and Outdoor Learning, as a pedagogy, is championed.
We invite you to read the report here, which includes a link to the full evaluation report:
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