Before - We do have access to the wider environment and woodland area, but felt that we did fully not use it to our advantage. Our children were able to explore this area, but staff were not confident in engaging children in child led lines of inquiry.

After - Staff are more confident outdoors and in developing their own nature pedagogy. The children are also more confident when exploring the wider environment and we have found that their interest in nature around them has continued even though the programme has finished. In the short term, we found when reviewing our floorbook that we had covered a greater number of Experiences and Outcomes over the 6 week period than average and found that these outcomes had greater depth. In the long term, staff are more confident in supporting child led inquiry and have agreed to further explore nature pedagogy for their own professional development.

Before - Outdoor play available in the garden with various activities on offer however not much nature based activities.

After - This training has helped us see the potential in our local landscape and how to utilise this. Staff have more ideas to explore regarding open ended play activities and will use their floorbooks to document this. Short term - children have participated in outdoor experiences that staff may not have thought of. Long term - a new staff ethos has been created on how we view our surroundings and how we can use simple ideas to create open ended experiences. Increase in staff confidence when completing floorbooks and documenting discoveries.

Before - Prior to the Virtual Nature School we were more contained within the nursery outdoor space. The space was set up with the usual sand, water, construction resources etc. Children also made a lot more use of bikes and scooters concentrated on developing physical and gross motor skills.

After - Staff and children have made better use of the whole school outdoor space. In terms of planning we brought nature-based learning indoors. We have used more natural resources both indoors and outdoors and have been less equipment-based. Children have used their curiosity and enquiry more and staff have followed their lead in learning. Children have contributed their thoughts and ideas on their learning more frequently and contributing to the floorbooks. They are able to link to their previous learning more readily too. Staff are more confident allowing the children to lead their own learning. Staff are using their professional judgement more confidently.

Before - Staff were confident in letting children 'just play' and experience their own outcomes with very little interactions.

After - We are now working better as a team and taking turns at providing weekly talking tips in pairs, to allow the children prompts for their thinking. Walks are more qualitative and have a solid purpose, which contributes well to our floorbooks. The training got staff talking about things they haven't considered before and realise that play and learning can be very simple

Before - We spent a lot of time outdoors before the VNS, however, the majority of the time we were playing on normal garden toys such as slides, ride on toys, with balls etc. We also did go to the beach, local park, and walks too.

After - We now have a wider selection of open ended resources available for the children to play with such as different bits of wood, pipes, rope, leaves, shells, stones, water. We now dive deeper into conversations with the children, not just maybe saying it’s a dull day for example, but discussing the types of clouds we can see, and what the forecast says. We think more openly about things we could provide to help the children explore and learn. We are aware that our practice has changed day today. And the children are getting used to the new style, and have much more expectation that we will be outside the majority of the time.

Before - We used to struggle to come up with exciting ideas for outdoor play and worried about delivering the curriculum adequately when playing outside. Outdoors was a bit of an after thought as we do not have our own outdoor space and we have to take what we need outside with us everyday. We had started to investigate outdoor learning opportunities to try to address the balance of learning opportunities and make more of the local environment. We had just begun to develop the wildlife area at our local school and had built a mud kitchen and planters, but we had limited access to this each week.

After - All the staff took part in the programme and it has increased our confidence in delivery a quality curriculum outdoors. We have learnt to slow down, take notice and be in the moment with the children. We are observing, listening and talking to the children to enable them to lead their own learning. We are encouraging their interest in nature, the outdoor world and our local environment. We have been surprised at the directions the children's interests are taking us and we have found the joy in our experiences again. We are outdoors everyday and have realised that we don't need to take lots of things with us and pre-prepare lots of activities. We can use natural resources and things we see on our journeys to spark curiosity and creativity and with a little thought and planning we can extend the children's learning experiences. The staff look forward to going outside with the children. The children are becoming more confident in being outside and exploring our environment. Our floorbook and the children's learning journals demonstrate the learning and skills development taking place. The children's resilience is improving as is their ability to identify their interests and lead their own learning. We have noticed that the children are more engaged in their play and become fully engrossed in explorations.

Before - We have free flow outdoor play every day and trips to the woods for forest kindergarten twice a week but staff lacked confidence in their abilities and would rely heavily on resources for ideas.

After - This programme has opened all practitioners eyes in the sense that there is so much learning just in the world around us and not in the resources that are relied upon. Your practitioners are the best resources - full of knowledge and new ideas. The impact on the setting is evident within the outdoor play experiences, interactions between staff and children and evidenced within children’s floorbooks and learning journals. Parents have commented on their children’s enthusiasm for outdoors.

Before - In my childminding setting we went out every day but often didn’t use the garden at all over the winter months and tended to go for walks rather than spend longer periods outside. My improvement plan written end of 2019 was to find ways to spend more time outside but I had no idea that 8 months later I would be spending the majority of the day outside in the garden and beyond with the children.

After - Joining VNS as part of cohort two gave me the confidence to spend more time outside in summer 2020 and to continue this practice right through the winter. I notice the children engage more with nature and the natural resources they come across and play more intentionally. They’ve become more questioning of things as we’ve put into practice the enquiry based learning and I have the confidence to help them look deeper at the things that interest them. Because the training has changed the way I work both in terms of my confidence in being outside with the children as our default and in the way I present our curriculum. This happened gradually through cohort two and has consolidated during cohort three as I plan our way forward devising our improvement plan for the year ahead using the things I’ve learned through the inquiry based learning model

Before - We were mainly based indoors. When Covid hit we were encouraged to spend more time outside.

After - We spent more time outside. Kids have enjoyed spending more time outside. Short term: The children are more willing to go outdoors, they would rather spend more time outdoors than indoors. Long term: We are looking to incorporate the knowledge we have gained into our summer planning.

Before - Before I stared virtual nature school about 1 year ago. I some know of what was in my local area. However over the last year I have now become very familiar with all the woodland areas, pathways and community spaces, the children are enjoying being outdoors more and the parents have become more aware of the benefits of outdoor learning

After - The program over the last year has had a huge impact on my personal development, my own mindset and has given me a sense of being part of the virtual nature school family/team especially the podcasts. I am more likely to do outdoors learning and go exploring. I also have a large pile of sticks, rocks, pine cones and anything else that we have found on our adventures. This has given me the confidence to use the local community i.e. the graveyard as a learning environment and having the confidence to explain why it’s important for the children to learn and respect the village. I have also been luck to get outdoors clothing grants for the children to participate more in outdoor learning. I have purchased 2 huts to facilitate more outdoor learning experience in all weather conditions. I’m more aware of the children’s feelings being outdoors and it has been interesting to see the children learning and exploring and just how far they can walk and exploring. I can see that the children have become more engaged with outdoor learning experience, they are asking to be outdoors more and when the local nursery and school have commented on the children knowledge of the outdoors and how they know their way around the woodland areas. Then it’s great to hear it from someone else. The parents have also commented about how much the children are loving the course and the activities they have done

Before - The children explored the outdoor environment each day before starting this we also have a weekly Forest School Programme however the staff feel much more confident now letting children lead the learning and have developed their confidence interacting and developing children's interests with an inquiry based approach.

After - It had a big impact as all staff have felt that they have developed their skills in engaging children deeper with nature. They have adopted a curiosity approach and feel that they have developed as practitioners as a result. Short impact: The levels of children's deep engagement with nature and following their own interests evidenced in the floorbook and inquiry tracker. Team reflection and evaluation helped build understanding and skills. Long term impact : Using the approaches with children in everyday practice. Implementing floorbook planning to evidence children voices and engagement in learning. More skilled practitioners who have a deeper understanding of how children learn outdoors through nature.

For more transformation stories, please see our interactive map of best practice across Scotland