At the Chambon school, in Clavé, near Poitiers, on Thursdays, children prepare “cookie soup”, build cabins and try to recognize animal prints.
Once a week, the twenty-four kindergarten children have an outdoor class.
And this has been going on for six years already.
No table, chair or board.
Two large tarpaulins serve as a classroom.
And a place of gathering around the mistress.
This practice of “school outside” comes from northern Europe where all the pupils go out every day throughout the year.
France is still far behind.
But the containments and restrictions linked to Covid could well speed things up and breathe new life into the classroom in the open air.
“It really convinced us even more to do it.
Here, in class, we wear the mask all the time.
Even if we keep it outside, we get some fresh air and then we give the children freedom, we give something other than everyday life, that's it, give them a little star in the eyes ”, confirms Aurélie Coulais, teacher in CP-CE1.
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This phenomenon is indeed experiencing a growing craze in France.
In the Deux-Sèvres department alone where she practices, Crystèle Ferjou, one of the pioneers of the school outside France, has identified 80 classes who have adopted school outside in recent years.
But sometimes it remains to convince some parents who do not take this type of class very seriously, especially for older children.