12. 12. Short Debate: Unlocking Children's Natural Potential — The Role of Outdoor Education in the Learning Process

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:10 pm on 21 September 2016.

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Photo of Rhianon Passmore Rhianon Passmore Labour 6:10, 21 September 2016

Acting—okay, thank you. Firstly, I’d also like to thank you, Vikki. As a former teacher, I’m grateful to the Member for Cynon Valley for raising this important issue, and I fully support the Welsh Government’s commitment to promoting outdoor education throughout the foundation phase. In my constituency, it’s amazing facilities such as the Cwmcarn Forest Drive and Ynys Hywel Outdoor Activity Centre that enable school groups to explore the natural environment around their schools and homes, and we’re very fortunate in south-east Wales to have access to the fantastic woodland areas of the Valleys, in which children and young people can learn about nature and encounter wildlife.

Outdoor education is essential in ensuring that children and young people from all backgrounds, as Vikki has said, can benefit physically and emotionally from being outdoors, and it is vital that we continue to recognise the role of outdoor education in aiding children’s ability, as has been said in terms of forest schools, to focus and develop inside the classroom. It is essential that, with the innovative foundation phase that we’ve actually led on, and now the increased PDG, and Donaldson access has been referenced, we have a wider push to access experiential learning, as has been mentioned. This is an important plank, in my view, of Welsh Labour Government’s enriched curriculum, and I thank Vikki Howells again for raising this as a topic, and I know it’s a matter that Wales will continue to champion. Thank you.