Entrant's address and contact details

School name:	Berridge Infant & Nursery School
School/college address:	Bobbers Mill Road Hyson Green Nottingham Nottinghamshire NG7 5GY England
School phone number:	0115 9155851
Number of pupils in school(s) - male:	158
Number of pupils in school(s) - female:	132
Number of staff in school(s):	43

Our team leader and our team

Name	Position (e.g. Headteacher, parent, etc.)	Organisation
Mrs Michelle Cook	Class Teacher	Berridge Infant School
Mrs Jane McShane	Teacher	Berridge Infant School
Mrs Helen Ballinger	Teacher	Berridge Infant School
Mrs Libby Harris	Foundation Stage co-ordinator	Berridge Infant School
Mrs Susan King	Senior TA & PPA co-ordinator	Berridge Infant School
Ms Kay Brown	Creative Partner and part-time teacher	Berridge Infant School

The key skills, strengths and roles of each team member are: (200 words)

Michelle Cook
Science, geography & history and eco-schools co-ordinator and outdoor enthusiast. Michelle will co-ordinate the team, maintain focus and ensure deadlines are met.

Jane McShane
Leading literacy teacher with a keen interest to develop the outdoor space to provide a wider range of experiences to enrich children\'s language. Jane will ensure that the key literacy skills are integrated.

Helen Ballinger
ICT, music and PE co-ordinator. Helen aims to ensure that ICT is integrated beyond the classroom.

Libby Harris
Foundation stage and PSHE co-ordinator. Working with the youngest children she aims to establish an early interest and understanding of scientific ideas and the use of the structure will aid transition throught the key stages.

Sue King
Senior TA and keen outdoor enthusiast. She will bring her creative and artistic skills to the design and implementation ensuring that teaching and learning are enhanced.

Kay Brown
Creative partner, landscape gardener and artist. Kay brings considerable skill and experience to the team, providing both creative and practical support. Her role will be to ensure that this project remains an enhancement to teaching and learning rather than just another workspace.

Our proposal

Topic area of proposal: Processes and Living Things - Ecology/environment

Briefly, the aim of our proposal is: (50 words)

So often in the city, children feel limited by classroom boundaries. We want our children who have limited or no experience of the outdoor environment to understand that learning can take place anywhere. By developing our outdoor space and adding to an existing structure we aim to provide both natural and man-made stimuli (pulleys, magnetic areas, sand, water etc) to enhance their experience.

Pupil type to benefit: All

Age range to benefit from proposal: 3-11

Learning outcomes from our proposal: (50 words)

We aim to:

• Provide an environment for incidental learning, fun and a sense of wonder.
• Give children ownership of outdoor space and an emotional connection with the environment.
• Establish an early interest and understanding of scientific concepts.
• Provide opportunities for language development.

Our reasons for developing this particular proposal: (100 words)

Working with a creative partner last year helped us to recognise that we were not realising the full potential of the outdoor space. Small projects were undertaken and we fast realised the enormous benefits. Children and staff were excited, stimulated and challenged and work produced was of a high standard. In addition to written work we noticed a significant development in language and social skills that we attribute directly to working in the outdoors. Most of our children have very limited access to and experience of the outdoor environment and this simple step goes some way to bridging the home/school gap.

Detailed description of our proposal: (300 words)

We want to add to an existing eight-sided outdoor structure and recently installed firepit to enhance the science curriculum. We see this as a long-term initiative that will be fully integrated into school plans.

We propose to affix specific areas for the children to explore within this structure ie. magnets, pulleys, sound, light and colour, mirrors and reflection, living willow and water. We have already conferenced with the children to find out what they would like to include and we have three quotes from artists or carpenters in order to realise these ideas.

The recently installed firepit has surprised everybody. Seeing the children cook food that they have grown themselves on an open fire, hearing the responses from children who normally find communication difficult and recognising the fully inclusive nature of the activity has made us more determined to ensure the continuity and growth of this outdoor space.

Staff with stressed and busy lives have also recognised some of the unexpected benefits associated with being so close to nature in the middle of the city.

Using this space with such surprisingly good results led to a whole staff training day and a radical review of school plans, where it was decided that the outdoors must become an integral part of the curriculum.

Putting our proposal into practice

Outline of how our team would implement our proposal over a period of not more than 24 weeks: (300 words, bulleted lists accepted)

Weeks 1-2

• Workshops with children to elicite ideas. (class teachers)
• Special assembly - invite governors. (all staff)
• School council to vote on winning ideas and say how they feel about the features.
• Contact local press. (MC)
• First team meeting to include Head Teacher and Site Manager.
• Contact contractors - quotes for electricity and water supply to main structure. (LH)

Weeks 3-6

• Design brief given to artist and carpenter. (MC)
• Artist or carpenter in to assess area and begin work.
• Children to keep diaries and digital evidence of progression.
• Continue with team meetings to monitor progress.
• Order willow. (KB)

Weeks 7-8

• Continue with fortnightly team meetings - all members check progress on site.
• Work continues.
• Kay to plant willow to create tunnel and screen on two sides of structure working with groups of children and parents.(KB)
• School council and \'Eco warriors\' to devise rota for watering willow plants to ensure healthy growth. (MC)

Weeks 9-11

• Training for leading firepit sessions - City Rangers and Iain Dimmock (forest schools consultant). (MC)
• Continue team meetings.

Weeks 12-14

• Progress report to parents. (JMcS)
• Request volunteers to help dig pond. (KB)
• Continue team meetings and meet with contractor to discuss progress/problems. (all team)
• Source pond-liner and pump. (KB)

Weeks 15-17

• Begin digging pond. (KB)
• Monitor progress of project and address problems.
• School council to tour site and report back.
• Fortnightly team meeting to include Head Teacher and Site Manager.
• Order pond plants/fence/liner and underlay. (KB)

Weeks 18-19

• Check with contractors to monitor progress.
• If site is safe, classes to test each section as ready. (SK)
• Continue fortnightly team meeting.

Weeks 20-22

• PPA groups to visit area. (SK)
• Fortnightly team meeting. (All)
• Meet contractors to ensure project is on target.

Week 23

• Complete project diary ready for opening ceremony.
• Naming the garden competition.
• Staff training. (all staff)

Week 24

• Grand opening, naming ceremony.
• Invite local press and dignitaries.

Monitoring and evaluation

The monitoring procedures we will use during the project are: (200 words, bulleted lists accepted)

• Fortnightly team meetings throughout will ensure problems are addressed promptly to keep this project on track.
• As a school we have a regular weekly briefing meeting where we can inform all staff of progress.
• MC will oversee the project and keep a ledger of progress, contacts and costs.
• Head Teacher, Site Manager and School Governors will have access to minutes of team meetings.

The evaluation procedures we will use at the end of the 25 weeks to check the effectiveness of our project are: (200 words, bulleted lists accepted)

• We believe that we will see a significant development in children\'s speaking and listening skills.
• We also expect to see improvements in collaborative work, as well as the obvious raised attainment in science and across the curriculum.
• Oral feedback from parents will help us to assess whether the home/school gap has been bridged.
• Work begun last year demonstrated that working outdoors encourages interaction with the environment and each other. We expect that the above will be reflected in end of Key Stage results via Foundation Stage Profile, SATs and Teacher Assessment.
• Our commitment to this project is evidenced by the work we have already begun and the money spent on spring-boarding this with outdoor clothing, staff training and sourced activities.

Budget

Itemised costs of putting your proposal into practice within a maximum budget of £5,000 or equivalent in Euros:

Budget Item Cost (GBP) Firepit training 1 day @ £150 per day 150 Kay Brown - Horticultural educator - 5 days @ £200 per day 600 Materials for pond 100 Cost of willow plants 100 Adaptations to existing structure 3400 Electricity supply 300 Supply for MC - 2 days 350 TOTAL 5000