An exciting announcement
The Outdoor Classroom is thrilled to announce our official partnership with British Orienteering, a collaboration aimed at promoting outdoor education and fostering a love for navigation and exploration among learners of all ages and abilities.
As pioneers in Outdoor Learning, The Outdoor Classroom is dedicated to providing an innovative digital Outdoor Learning system that inspires curiosity and fosters a sense of adventure in school pupils. The partnership with British Orienteering aligns seamlessly with our mission to enhance the learning experience through outdoor activities and bring the sport of orienteering into a new age.
British Orienteering is the national governing body for the sport of orienteering in the UK. With a rich history since its founding in 1967, and a commitment to supporting the next generation of GB orienteering athletes, the organisation is an ideal partner for The Outdoor Classroom. Through this collaboration, we aim to integrate active learning into every UK school through The Outdoor Classroom system, providing pupils with a unique opportunity to develop teamwork, problem-solving, and navigation skills as they learn all subjects in a new and exciting environment. British Orienteering have generously donated prizes towards our national Outdoor Learning competition, The Big League enabling us to offer incredible prizes to competing schools, including signed Team GB shirts and virtual meets from the Team GB athletes to inspire and reward children’s success in sport.
“I am thrilled to announce our strategic partnership with British Orienteering. This collaboration signifies our commitment to enriching educational experiences by integrating orienteering programs into our offerings. By joining forces with a respected national governing body, we aim to provide students with valuable navigation skills, foster a deeper connection with the outdoors, and position ourselves at the forefront of innovative and impactful educational initiatives.”
Josh Jenner, Founder and CEO of The Outdoor Classroom
“The Outdoor Classroom offers an innovative option to deliver orienteering in educational settings. With increased focus on developing the rounded learner outside of classroom settings, there’s no better way to get pupils outside, learning and developing than through introducing orienteering to the curriculum. The ease of using The Outdoor Classroom for both teachers and pupils makes it an obvious choice to add to the school offering. Taking learning outdoors offers both physical and mental benefits to both pupils and teachers, increasing activity levels away from the structured P.E curriculum. We are excited to support the next phase of The Outdoor Classroom and see the benefits of more people, more active, through orienteering.”
Kay Hawke, Projects & Partnerships Manager
Our founder, Josh Jenner, has been working alongside British Orienteering for over a decade, supporting them with enquiries from schools and sharing progress on The Outdoor Classroom since our incorporation in 2017. As a certified cartographer, Josh has created maps drawn to British Orienteering standards for a number of locations on behalf of British Orienteering, and continues to use this expertise in drawing custom maps for our member schools.
Most recently we have been working closely with Kay Hawke, the Find Your Way project lead, planning new and exciting ways to digitise public orienteering courses nationally. Outside of our work in schools, the collaboration also promises the creation of more digital opportunities for specific community groups. Combining our state of the art technology with existing British Orienteering courses and initiatives, opens up the possibilities to offering more accessible orienteering activities. Through this partnership, we can get whole communities actively engaged in their local green spaces and deliver the sport to new demographics by presenting it from new perspectives such as guided history walks or story book trails.
The Outdoor Classroom and British Orienteering are excited about the positive impact this partnership will have on pupils, educators, and outdoor enthusiasts alike. Together, we look forward to creating memorable and transformative Outdoor Learning experiences that will leave a lasting impression on the next generation.