Make sure your volume is on: "...you are up on your feet, running around..."

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I think outdoor education - environmental education - is one of the most important things that a child can do. I just think the benefits of your mental health and just being outside and just immersing yourself in the trees, the plants… I think that that's just fundamentally …life.

And the difference that you notice with children when they've been outside and, you know, maybe their attitudes in the classroom and then a comparative, when they're outside!

When you’re doing a pre visit and you get, the teacher will tell, “I've got this child, they have ADHD, they don't listen, they don't do this” and so forth. And we'll just be like, “Yeah, not a problem, not a problem.” Because they'll get here and we won't be able to tell who it is!. And it will be the children that the teachers will probably be, “Oh, we don't know how they're going to fare, you know, will they enjoy it?” And they end up having the best time they're so involved. They're so energetic and just happy to be outside. I think that's the benefit.

For me I think that it is that learning is not just one dimensional… learning within four walls is not for everybody. Yes, some people really thrive in it, but some people need to come out and experience the light … and being outside your classroom, it's just fantastic.

You get different types of educators. People have different ways of teaching, and then I think children have different ways of picking it up. [Well, I learn differently from other people. I'm more a visual learner]. People learn hands on.
Why would you come here?

I think people would want to come here, firstly, if they've come here before. They're familiar to it. It's a home from home. And if they've met us before - the team.
We do like to have a pre-visit - go through everything that we're going to do on the day and we will meet and greet you.

And it'll be from Marker one to Marker five, it will be that step by step process. They can always come and chat to us if they need changes, anything like that. We sort of build that rapport up with the teachers and the educators.

And then we lead the sessions. As soon as you get off your bus here, we will basically take over. Which I think, for some teachers, they quite like.
You know, and it's a completely different setup. It's not a case of, “Children, you're going to sit down…”

It's all outside. You are up on your feet, running around, high energy. Something that they're probably not used to.

Also, I find that we're not prescriptive. If we were out in the woodlands and a deer walked past, we will stop and say, “Look at that, children. That is amazing! You can't ignore that.” And we’ll talk about it around that as well.

Well, it's a working environment, isn't it? You know, Nature doesn't stop... and if the children get to see a glimpse of that and that’s even better, isn't it.