Getting Ready for Outdoor Experiences

Ready? It’s Time to Plan for Outdoor School!

Form your team! Include school staff, administration, parents, students, and community members with an interest in outdoor school. Consider consulting with outdoor school site staff once you’ve made a reservation.
As a team, decide on your overarching goals for outdoor school. What is your purpose in sending students? How will they be impacted academically? Socially? What growth due to the experience do you want for students?
Choose an instructional model. Will school staff handle all instruction at outdoor school? Will site staff and school staff share the instruction? Will site staff handle everything? This decision will impact your next step, which is…
Choose a site and make a reservation ASAP! Consider how far from home you want to travel and if you want students to experience an ecosystem different from the one in which they live.
Make an appointment to meet with site staff to go over the specifics of their program and divide up instructional/materials responsibilities.
Make transportation arrangements through your district or through a charter bus company.
Create a daily schedule for students’ time at outdoor school. Include meals, instructional times, recreation time, campfire programs, etc. Each day should be full! (Advice from the voice of experience: minimize “free time.” Keep kids engaged and active!)
Figure out the forms required for your district: permission slips, medical history forms, medication forms, pick-up permission forms, photo release forms and any others mandated by your district. One form should collect dietary needs: medical, personal, cultural, and/or religious. Most sites can accommodate a wide range of food requirements if provided information in advance.
Prepare a packing list for students and begin to collect information on who needs what gear. No child should miss outdoor school because they don’t have boots or a sleeping bag. Remember funding from Outdoor Schools WA can be used to purchase equipment for outdoor schools. Consider beginning gear storage at your school for future needs.
With parents and teachers of individual students, make plans for those who might need accommodations during outdoor school. This includes arranging for proper staffing and any adaptive equipment that will be needed.
Assemble interested high school students to serve as mentors during outdoor school. Ideally, the high school students attended outdoor school when they were younger. However, this might not be possible in districts just beginning outdoor school experiences. In this case, look to high school outdoor clubs, future-teacher classes, and leadership classes for possible mentors. Arrange training for them prior to outdoor school with the younger students.
Secure a medical professional to accompany students to outdoor school. School nurses are the obvious choice. Some sites may have their own medical staff. Look into creative possibilities if school nurses cannot be released. Check the district’s policy on parents who are medical professionals attending with their kids.
Invite parents to an Outdoor School Evening to find out the details of the trip. Depending on distance, site staff may be able to attend and/or provide you with a video or slide deck about the site. Meetings on Zoom make the information available to everyone.
If feasible, arrange a site visit for parents. Some parents will be apprehensive about sending their children overnight. Sometimes seeing the site and meeting staff alleviates that concern.
For a myriad of reasons, some families will choose to not have their children stay the night at outdoor school. Arrange transportation for kids who can spend the day but need to return home in the evenings (if distance allows).
Four weeks before, begin collecting forms. Start talking to students about outdoor school and setting expectations. If possible, share pictures or a slideshow/video about the site.
Three weeks before, be in contact with parents to answer questions. Continue collecting forms. Check-in with the high school mentors coordinator, nurse/medical professional, site staff, and school staff who will be supporting students with special needs.
Two weeks before, make sure all materials needed for lessons (if staff are teaching) are in order. Send reminders home to those who have not returned permission slips. Check on transportation arrangements.
One week before, check in with site staff for any last-minute questions. Check on dietary requests. Talk about the weather forecast and see if any additional items should be included on packing lists.
The day before, finalize all forms. Check-in with medical professionals and transportation.
Day of, load those buses, travel to the site, and have the BEST time ever!