AV天堂 Outdoors
Mike Turnham, Outdoor Education Lead
Welcome to AV天堂 Outdoors, a member of the .
We aim to deliver a holistic, consistent and high-quality outdoor education programme all year round, available to all AV天堂 academies across Cornwall. In line with the AV天堂 vision, embracing regular outdoor learning opportunities helps develop life-long skills and attitudes, attributes and character traits that contribute towards healthy and fulfilled lives.
Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach of us more than we can ever learn from books.
Education is not just about lessons within the four walls of a classroom. There is clear, well documented evidence that learning in a natural outdoor environment has a positive impact on children and when that learning is of high quality, the impact can be life changing.
Over the last few years, the importance of developing character and life skills has been recognised as a major contributor to a young person’s life chances and essential for succeeding in an ever-changing workplace and wider world.
The Education Foundation recognises the importance that adventure learning can have on attainment: "Overall, studies of adventure learning interventions consistently show positive benefits on academic learning. On average, pupils who participate in adventure learning interventions make approximately four additional months’ progress over the course of a year."
AV天堂 Outdoors is led by a qualified teacher and moorland leader to ensure the right mix of aspirational and inspirational education topics and lessons in adventure.
In the words of the great man himself, Sir David Attenborough:
No one will protect what they don't care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced.