Bannerman Road Community Academy (Bristol) × Love Outdoor Learning
Bannerman Road Community Academy is an urban primary school in Bristol with a mix of concrete playground areas and a small Forest School space. Staff were motivated to develop more outdoor learning, but many lacked confidence around managing safety, behaviour, time, and planning, particularly within maths.
To support this, the school commissioned Love Outdoor Learning to deliver a focused 2-hour twilight session designed to make outdoor maths feel practical, accessible, and achievable in everyday school environments.
Twilight Training
The twilight took place on 26 November 2025 and was structured as a short, high-impact professional learning experience.
The first hour was delivered outdoors in the school grounds, where staff participated in and observed simple, low-prep outdoor maths activities that demonstrated how learning can be embedded in existing playground spaces.
The second hour took place indoors and focused on unpacking the practice. This included discussion around risk, behaviour routines, lesson flow, and how outdoor learning aligns with curriculum expectations and existing classroom planning.
Across both parts of the session, the emphasis remained consistent: showing that outdoor maths does not require specialist environments or additional workload, and can be integrated into everyday teaching with confidence.
Quantitative Impact
Staff completed pre- and post-session confidence ratings using a 1 to 5 scale, where 1 represented low confidence and 5 represented high confidence.
- Across all measured areas, confidence increased following the twilight, showing a clear shift in readiness to deliver outdoor learning in maths and beyond.
- The strongest gains were seen in feeling supported to develop outdoor learning, which increased by 0.99 points overall.
- Delivering outdoor learning in general increased by 0.68, reflecting a noticeable shift in overall confidence.
- Delivering outdoor learning across curricular areas increased by 0.64, showing growing belief that outdoor learning can support more than just enrichment activities.
- Understanding how to balance risk and learning increased by 0.59, indicating improved clarity around safe and purposeful practice.
- Using outdoor spaces effectively for maths increased by 0.52, highlighting improved confidence in adapting existing environments for curriculum delivery.
These results show that even a short, focused twilight session can create meaningful and measurable shifts in staff confidence, particularly when learning is both modelled outdoors and unpacked through structured reflection.all areas, demonstrating meaningful and embedded professional learning rather than short-term change.
Training Content and Practical Strategies
The session combined live modelling, participation, and collaborative discussion to ensure staff could immediately connect ideas to their own classrooms.
Outdoor modelling and experiential learning
Staff engaged in practical maths activities designed to demonstrate how outdoor learning can support reasoning, fluency, and problem-solving. These activities showed how simple resources and existing playground markings can be used to create meaningful mathematical thinking opportunities.
Staff experienced first-hand how movement, space, and shared problem-solving increased engagement and accessibility for pupils.
Indoor reflection and professional dialogue
The second half of the session focused on translating experience into practice. Staff explored how to structure short outdoor maths sessions, maintain clear routines, and manage transitions efficiently.
Conversations also focused on reducing planning pressure, with an emphasis on reusing familiar lesson structures in outdoor contexts rather than creating entirely new approaches.
Risk, safety, and routine
A key theme throughout was making risk feel manageable and proportionate. Staff explored how clear expectations, simple boundaries, and consistent routines reduce uncertainty and support confident delivery.
This helped shift perceptions of outdoor learning from something complex and risky to something structured, intentional, and realistic.
Staff Reflections
Staff responses highlighted strong engagement and a noticeable shift in confidence and mindset.
Common reflections included:
“Eye-opening”
“Practical and confidence-building”
“Very beneficial”
“Barrier-removing”
Teachers particularly valued experiencing the activities themselves, seeing how simple outdoor maths can be, and working collaboratively with colleagues in real time.
Many staff left the session expressing renewed willingness to try outdoor learning, with comments such as:
“I’ll give it a go.”
“I feel more confident now.”
“I didn’t realise it could be this simple.”
Themes Emerging
Outdoor maths is more achievable than expected
Staff consistently noted that meaningful outdoor learning can be delivered with minimal preparation and using existing spaces.
Practical modelling builds confidence quickly
Seeing and doing activities outdoors helped staff understand pace, structure, and behaviour management in context.
Engagement increases naturally outdoors
Staff observed how movement and space supported pupil focus, collaboration, and enthusiasm.
Risk becomes manageable with clear routines
Clarity around expectations helped reduce anxiety and supported confident decision-making.
Existing spaces are already rich learning environments
Even concrete playgrounds and small outdoor areas were recognised as valuable mathematical spaces.
Planning for Progression
To build on this initial shift in confidence, Love Outdoor Learning recommended a simple and sustainable next step approach.
This includes integrating short outdoor maths sessions into regular planning cycles, maintaining consistent and proportionate safety routines, and encouraging informal peer sharing of ideas across staff.
The use of Love Outdoor Learning membership resources was also highlighted as a way to support ongoing inspiration and reduce planning load over time.
Conclusion
This 2-hour twilight created a clear and measurable shift in staff confidence, particularly in relation to outdoor maths and whole-school outdoor learning practice.
Staff moved from uncertainty to curiosity and from hesitation to willingness, with many expressing immediate intent to trial ideas in their own classrooms.
Bannerman Road Community Academy is now well placed to continue developing outdoor learning as a practical, embedded part of its curriculum, supported by increased staff confidence and a clearer understanding of how to use everyday outdoor spaces effectively.
