Driving around town talking French.  Is there really a benefit in that?   

Obviously one can have a series of lessons in the classroom in which your students only speak French.

The only problem is that some students will occasionally phase out of the on-going conversation and stop forcing themselves to think in French.

However recent research undertaken by a team at Yale University has revealed that intellectual activity in new and different places stimulates the brain to a much, much higher level than otherwise would be the case.

As a result, if the instruction that all conversation is to be in French is given when the lesson is taking place in a different environment, then the focus on speaking and thinking in French tends to be grasped much more thoroughly than when the lesson takes place in the regular classroom.

Of course, if the conversation can also be related to something in the environment, then the learning becomes even more deeply embedded.  But even without that link, the mere fact of being in a different place stimulates the brain so much that the focus on the language is much more intense.

One way to do this is simply to take a group of students for a walk around the school grounds, with the students in pairs, being instructed to converse all the time, but only in French.

However if the students can experience a new environment, then the opportunity to develop the conversation grows dramatically when they are instructed to converse on the subject of what they see around them.

And one way to do this is by taking a short trip in the school minibus.

The research on learning in different environments from Yale University is reported in more detail on the Outside.Education website, and there is no doubt that the simple diversion of removing the conversation from the classroom to another environment does enhance learning dramatically.

As for the issue of having a minibus available, this problem has been overcome via the increased availability of leased minibuses which allow more groups to be taken out. For a minibus taken on a lease is paid for month by month until the lease ends, rather than being paid for in full at the start of its use.

If you are interested in the idea of leasing a minibus to enable the school to run more trips outside the classroom there is information on that here. Alternatively, you can get in touch by calling the Minibus Team on 01753 859944 or by dropping us an email – minibus@benchmarkleasing.co.uk – and we’ll do our best to help!

Curiously it seems that stopping teaching and taking pupils out can enhance how much they learn.

You may have come across the “Daily Mile” – it is a project based around the notion that interrupting the school day in order to take pupils  out on a walk or run has a very positive outcome.

While one might assume that losing time from normal classroom lessons to go out for a walk might reduce the level of teaching, it appears that the opposite happens – and this is supported by analyses by the DFE and others.

Analyses of the project have been continuing since 2010, and most of the schools that take up the notion of interrupting work for a walk continue to report improved teaching and learning.

The only problem seems to be that after doing the same walk, or the same sort of walk, for a while, the improvement in learning diminishes  over time – although the improvement to the pupils’ physical health continues.

The reason for this is probably due to the impact on learning of the changing environment. As research from Yale University found, it is the change of environment that stimulates additional brain activity, meaning that more learning takes place in new or changed environments.

That’s not to say that there is anything wrong with The Daily Mile idea, but rather that if the walk can be varied and take in different places, then it brings two benefits: improving the pupils’ health and improving the retention of whatever is learned during the walk.

One of the best ways of organising this approach is to use the school minibus – especially if there are times of the day when it is standing idle in the school.  A school party goes out to a previously unexplored location nearby, the pupils walk, and as they walk they observe or discuss matters of educational interest.

And because of the extra brain activity that results from being in an unusual place, more of this knowledge is retained.

Indeed so beneficial is this approach that some schools are now starting to consider leasing a second minibus in order to facilitate such activities – as well as use the minibus for regular school visits and events.

There is more about the research into the benefits that are proven to come from learning outside on the learning outside website.

And if you are interested in leasing a minibus or upgrading a minibus to increase the learning outside opportunities your school can offer you will find this website of help.

Alternatively, you can get in touch by calling the Minibus Team on 01753 859944 or by dropping us an email – minibus@benchmarkleasing.co.uk – and we’ll do our best to help!

What is the benefit in studying maths in the world beyond the classroom?     

Self-evidently maths pervades the entire world.  And yet traditionally it is studied almost exclusively within the classroom.

Clearly this works, since every year pupils and students learn the subject and take and pass their exams. But the question can be asked, is there a benefit in studying maths outside the classroom?

Recent research undertaken by a team at Yale University has revealed that learning in new and different places stimulates the brain to a much, much higher level than otherwise would be the case.

As a result any form of study that is undertaken during or after a visit to a different environment tends to be understood much more rapidly than study in the normal classroom.  And it is remembered for much longer.

Of course, if the learning can also be related to something in the environment visited then the learning becomes even more deeply embedded.  But even without that link, the mere fact of being in a different place stimulates the brain so much that it is invariably learned and remembered to a much deeper degree.

The one issue that has traditionally held schools back from undertaking more and more lessons outside the classroom is transport.  However this problem has been overcome via the increased availability of leased minibuses which allow smaller groups to be taken out.

For a minibus taken on a lease is paid for month by month until the lease ends, rather than being paid for in full at the start of its use. As a result, over recent years more and more schools have been leasing their minibuses rather than trying to raise the money needed all in one go.

Thus teaching and learning has in many schools had a double boost. Once from leasing rather than buying an additional minibus, and once because learning outside the classroom stimulates learning far more than learning that happens inside the classroom.

If you find this development interesting and feel it is something your department could benefit from, there are two articles available that may be of interest.

The research on learning in different environments from Yale University is reported in more detail on the Outside.Education website

And if you are interested in the idea of leasing a minibus to enable the school to run more trips outside the classroom there is information on that here. Alternatively, you can get in touch by calling the Minibus Team on 01753 859944 or by dropping us an email – minibus@benchmarkleasing.co.uk – and we’ll do our best to help!

How can taking pupils and students outside the classroom greatly improve their level of learning and retention of knowledge?

During the last couple of years there has been a lot of research on how it is possible to increase the speed at which pupils and students learn and their ability to retain that knowledge.

And it turns out from all this research that two changes to normal school procedures improve the speed of learning and the retention of the knowledge that has been gained.

First, the research clearly shows that a change to the physical location of the learning will indeed improve rates of learning and the retention of that learning. Second, physical activity also helps the retention of all that is learned.

And in both these cases these are not minor levels of improvement to the amount that pupils and students learn – they are huge.

I won’t try to deal with both these issues here, but instead just focus on one of them: the notion that changing the location in which learning takes place dramatically increases the level of learning and the amount of that learning that enters the long-term memory.

The key research in this field has been undertaken by a team at Yale University, and in summary this very detailed and extensive research showed that when we are in an environment which is different from the norm, the brain becomes much more active.

This, of course, is common sense – a new environment presents new challenges for the individual and so awareness is heightened.

But the research shows that even when the new environment is quite safe and the situation is under the control of others who are trusted, the brain still works far harder than it does in a well-known environment. As a result far more is likely to be learned in that new location and it is much more likely to be remembered.

What this means is that (to give but one example) if a teacher takes a group of pupils or students out for a part of the school day and conducts a lesson in that new location, the amount of information the pupils or students retain will be much higher than if the lesson had happened in the classroom.

This, of course, is the reason why more schools are now organising trips to nearby locations, often using a school minibus to take a group, and conducting a lesson there.

You can read more about the research showing how learning outside can be twice as powerful as learning in the classroom in the article “Uncertainty is good”.

Also, if you are interested in the idea of leasing a minibus to enable the school to run more trips outside the classroom there is information on that here. Alternatively, you can get in touch by calling the Minibus Team on 01753 859944 or by dropping us an email – minibus@benchmarkleasing.co.uk – and we’ll do our best to help!

Do short visits to local places really have an impact on pupil and student retention of knowledge?

We have known for some time that learning outside the classroom is particularly effective in relation to delivering learning which is likely to be retained.

We also know this is particularly true of longer visits to venues some distance from the school. But is there a similar benefit to be gained from shorter visits to local venues?

Unfortunately independent detailed research into this topic has not been undertaken, but following the work by Yale University into whether learning outside the classroom in general really is more effective and more long lasting than learning within the classroom, informal studies suggest that short visits to local places can be as highly beneficial as visits to more distant locations which might already form part of the annual curriculum.

What’s more, it appears that this benefit accrues no matter what is being taught. It is the change of location that improves learning and retention.

This can also be most helpful if you are considering leasing a minibus as it is possible to gain extra voluntary funding for such a venture when the reasons behind it are set out.

If you are considering leasing a (additional) minibus to increase the learning outside opportunities for your pupils, do make sure to visit http://www.minibusleasing.co.uk/. Alternatively, you can get in touch by giving us a call on 01753 859944 or dropping us an email – minibus@benchmarkleasing.co.uk – and we’ll do our best to help!

Raising school attendance: have you tried this?

Since Ofsted inspectors are making school leaders accountable for attendance, it is vital that schools are doing everything in their power to ensure that as many students as possible attend school each day.

Of course, this is much easier said than done, not least because there are numerous and various reasons for a student’s attendance dropping below what is required, but for some the reason is as simple as oversleeping and missing the school bus.

In these such cases, it could be worth sending a member of staff out with the school minibus to pick up any stragglers. This might be something that your school already does, but in our experience it is not a widespread method of raising school attendance.

If you would like to try this method of raising attendance but your current school minibus isn’t up to the job/ you need another school minibus to implement this service/ your school doesn’t currently own a minibus, simply get in touch with Benchmark Leasing.

Benchmark specialise in leasing minibuses to schools which, over time, has become a much more popular option than buying a minibus outright. This is because it is an arrangement which makes it possible for schools to afford a modern minibus with good capacity through a small monthly payment.

Furthermore, when you lease a minibus with us we take responsibility for its maintenance, thus absorbing the costs and keeping the vehicle fully operational at all times.

For more information visit http://minibusleasing.co.uk/. Alternatively, you can email minibus@benchmarkleasing.co.uk or call us on 01753 859944.

Why learning in unusual places can have a very strange and powerful effect on pupils and students. 

The traditional approach to learning and revising has been to suggest that pupils and students should find somewhere without distractions, somewhere quiet, warm and comfortable (although not so warm and comfortable they might fall asleep!), and then focus on their work. 

Thus in this peaceful location they can learn, study, and revise without interruptions. 

However, recent research has shown that this is not quite right. In fact there is a way of learning which appears to put distraction right at the forefront of its requirements. 

This comes about from a set of studies undertaken at Yale University which showed that when we study something in an unusual location we tend to remember it far better than if we study in a regularly used location, such as a room at home or in the library, or indeed the classroom. 

This very curious effect arises because when we are in an usual situation our brain becomes much more active, and thus although there might be distractions caused by the novelty of the environment, these are overcome by the additional activity the brain is automatically putting in to being aware of what is happening. 

In fact if one takes a group of pupils or students to a location they don’t know and either allows them to revise or teaches them a lesson that would otherwise be taught in the classroom, the level of learning is invariably significantly higher at the unusual location. 

There are two ways of utilising this approach: one is to encourage older students to cycle to different locations to revise in the build up to exams; the other is to take a group in a minibus. 

This has led to several schools leasing or sharing an extra minibus so that their students can learn in an unusual environment more often. There is more information about the leasing of minibuses at www.minibusleasing.co.uk/minibus-services.php

 

What is the most effective way of enhancing the learning speed of dyslexic and dyscalculic children?

A recent research program undertaken at Yale University has shown that when pupils and students are given the opportunity to learn in a new environment both the speed of learning and the level of retention accelerate rapidly.

This occurs even if the location that the pupils or students are learning in is not especially related to the subject that they are studying – it is simply the fact that they have gone somewhere new.

An informal study in England followed this up with a small number of dyslexic children who were given a spelling activity which involved working through flash cards at home with their parents.

By way of experiment, the parents were asked to take the child to an unfamiliar environment each day and spend 10 – 15 minutes working through the exercises on the cards.

All the parents in the study reported that they found an improvement in the child’s learning and retention.

This, of course, was not a scientific study in the sense that the Yale study was, but nevertheless the experiment gave a new impetus to the child’s work with his/her reading and spelling cards, and parents reported that after the informal experiment they were continuing to use this method of going somewhere different to practise spellings.

Such an experiment is difficult to replicate at school, although in some schools a small group of dyscalculic and dyslexic pupils or students are being taken out to a new location from time to time with a specific set of spellings or a maths table to learn.

Again, this is an informal experiment but teachers are reporting that, as the Yale study predicts, learning is accelerated and retained for longer than might otherwise be expected. What’s more, not only does learning increase at an unexpectedly high rate but so does the self-esteem of the pupils or students.

This has led to several schools leasing or sharing an extra minibus so that their SEN students can learn in a different environment more often. There is more information on using learning outside as a way of stimulating learning in this article and there is more about the leasing of minibuses at www.minibusleasing.co.uk/minibus-services.php.

School trips in your county

It is interesting that very few local authorities have produced what might be called a school trip guide for their area. Which is why we have constructed a list of English counties (found at the bottom of this email) and added a link to a site that lists a number of locations within that county, containing details of places to visit that will be of interest to schools.

We are not suggesting that each link is the only, or indeed the best, link to a set of locations in the county, so if you would like to suggest another site which could be of interest please do send it, with the name of the county it relates to, to sam@schools.co.uk.

Where we have no link it is because we simply haven’t found anything at all. If you can fill in the gaps, again please do write to Sam.

Avon

Bedfordshire

● Berkshire

Bristol

Buckinghamshire

Cambridgeshire

Cheshire

Cornwall

Cumbria

Derbyshire

Devon

Dorset

Durham

East Riding of Yorkshire, See also here

East Sussex

Essex

Gloucestershire

Hampshire

● Herefordshire

● Hertfordshire

Isle of Wight

Kent

Lancashire

Leicestershire

 

● Lincolnshire

London See also here.

Manchester

Merseyside

Norfolk

North Yorkshire See also here

Northamptonshire

● Northumberland

Nottinghamshire

Oxfordshire See also here

Rutland

Shropshire

Somerset

South Yorkshire See also here

Staffordshire

Suffolk

Surrey

Tyne and Wear

Warwickshire See also here

West Midlands

West Sussex

West Yorkshire

Wiltshire

Worcestershire

Better exam results from a connection with nature

It is commonly observed that in schools where learning outside the classroom takes place, attendance records improve and behavioural problems decline.

So it would seem to be a debatable point as to whether the current practice of keeping students within a set of rooms in groups of 30 or so pupils for five hours or so a day, five days a week, is a good idea. We do it, because that is how schooling has evolved, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Certainly being outside the classroom is liable to encourage the pupils and students to become healthier, and the resources beyond the classroom are far greater than those within.

But to provide your students with this alternative, you will likely need a suitable mode of transport, which is why the team here at Benchmark have for some time been working hard to create the most convenient minibus packages for schools.

To speak to someone about leasing a minibus, call 01753 859944 or email minibus@benchmarkleasing.co.uk. Alternatively, you can browse the minibuses that we lease (including Accessible Minibuses) on our website at: www.minibusleasing.co.uk/minibus-services.php.