Adventure Learning at Pembroke
Beyond the classroom
With 140 acres on the edge of East Africa’s Great Rift Valley, outdoor learning at Pembroke is, not surprisingly, second to none. Being outside is part of our identity as a school and central to our educational ethos. It is what we do outside the classroom that has appealed most to generations of Pembroke children and their families.
We believe that adventures and experiences in the great outdoors teach children the vital life skills and core values that will enable them to make positive connections, communicate effectively, develop initiative and resilience, rise to challenges and make the right choices.
Adventure Learning is an extremely popular subject in the timetable for our Middle School pupils (Years 5 & 6). The children are able to engage in a wide variety of exciting, practical learning activities beneath the leafy canopy of the school forestry, in the wilds of Shack Land, down at the Trickle – the stream that runs along the school boundary – and across our extensive games fields. These sessions are allocated a double lesson each week and allow children to learn about using tools, making fires, building survival shelters, using a compass to design an orienteering course, dam and bridge making, and the classification of butterflies. They also learn about the application of first aid and what to do in an emergency. Honing bush skills around a camp fire is a highlight for many Pembroke children and, in their own words “sitting round the campfire with friends is what Pembroke is all about.”
Our Adventure Learning lessons are integral to the broad outdoor learning opportunities that we provide at Pembroke and complement the many optional extras on offer. Whether it’s den building and tree climbing in free time, motorbike or horse riding, camping or trekking, we know these outdoor activities equip the children with the skills to solve problems and assess risk, to take the lead and work collaboratively with others, to try new things and challenge themselves. The confidence they gain from these experiences ultimately benefits their learning across all areas, fostering a lifelong respect for the natural world and a better understanding of their place within it.
“Pupils’ sense of spirituality is on an exceptional level. They have an outlook on life that does not focus on materiality. Instead, they have a true affinity with the natural world and their environment”
Gallery
