OUTDOOR learning for school-age children has been proven to boost their success in maths, science and English, as shown by a project being piloted in Darlington.

The study into Wilderness Schooling - a pioneering form of outdoor education being-road tested in the North-East - showed pupils’ results ‘significantly improved’ after replacing classroom lessons by outdoor adventures one day a week for six weeks.

The authors of the study say this proves for the first time that there is “a case to be made for the core curriculum to be conducted outdoors to improve children’s learning”.

Pupils in Darlington, Northumberland and Newcastle were monitored for the research. In Darlington, Heathfield Primary School, Redhall Primary, West Park Primary and Hurworth Primary took part in the study.

The findings, published in the British Educational Research Journal, will be presented to education and child health professionals in the North-East on November 23, with a view to introducing thousands more children across the region to the benefits of den building, insect safaris and woodland storytelling.

The report - co-authored by Dr Toby Quibell of Northumberland-based Wilderness Schooling, and Jenna Charlton and Dr James Law, both of Newcastle University’s School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences - records the achievements of pupils across nine schools, including four in Darlington.

Those children involved followed the Wilderness Schooling programme - a structured curriculum-based outdoor learning schedule for primary school children which offers an alternative approach to teaching maths, science and English using nature and wild places as “a classroom beyond four walls”.

During the study, the achievements of 223 pupils engaged in the programme in the North-East were formally measured against the achievements of 217 pupils of the same ability from the same schools who remained in the classroom.

Children in the Wilderness Schooling group were said to “significantly improve” their attainment in maths, science and English compared to the other group, and showed “continued improvement in the weeks following the programme”. Improved behaviour and decreased hyperactivity were also reported.

There are now plans to expand the programme in the North-East, which according to government figures have one of the most unequal educational achievement profiles in England, with achievements of 16 year olds in the North-East being among the lowest of any region.