A Heybridge school is set to develop its outdoor classroom when pupils return in September, after the pandemic highlighted to students and staff the social and emotional benefits of being outside.

Heybridge Co-operative Academy, on The Street in Heybridge, safeguards and supports the attainment of secondary-aged children who are educated outside of the mainstream school system because of exclusion, illness or other reasons.

It is planning to broaden its curriculum to benefit from its grounds and local environment, with a focal point of this being an allotment-style plot that each class will look after. Pupils will work together to prepare and care for their allotment, and decide what to grow in it.

Jonathan Sly, deputy head at the school, said: "What we've discovered over the course of this last year, particularly with the pandemic, is that our kids thrive when we're outside - as do we all.

"We want to get our kids to appreciate that there's a world out there that's not judging, it's not condemning, it's not going to reject them in any way - in fact, it's quite the opposite.

"The natural world out there, and the world of gardening, is something that they can take control of and be in charge of, and that they can quite literally get something from."

In addition to providing the core curriculum of English, Maths, Science, PE and PSHE, the school offers a range of extended curriculum activities - from music to horse riding and work experience placements.

Jonathan said: "We've already allowed what was our little allotment area, which was very underused and had seen better days, to go wild and our meadows to grow.

"The kids have seen the amount of wildlife that this has attracted - the insects, butterflies, nesting birds in the grass and slow worms."

Each of the school's 14 classes - with between five and eight pupils each - will create its own allotment to grow vegetables and flowers.

The project will be led by the school's dedicated teaching assistants, who will assist the pupils in creating a range of different allotments with some, for instance, focussing on sensory experience.

The vegetables grown will be used in the school's food technology lessons and the flowers will be given to local residents and residential homes in Heybridge and Maldon.

The school is also planting over 150 trees in its grassy area.

Jonathan said: "This is all part of opening our young people's eyes to the world around them and the positives that can be gained from growing things and brightening up other people's days."

He added: "We really want to engage with local community groups - the elderly in particular - because our kids work really well with other people."

To give its students the best outdoors education possible, the school is seeking donations from local businesses for any resources or support that may help.

This could include timber to build raised beds, compost, bark chippings, vegetables, flowers, plug plants, seeds and second-hand or new garden tools.

It also welcomes any advice and guidance from local gardening groups or specialists.

The transferable skills the pupils learn will even be rewarded with qualifications.

Jonathan said: "They will earn AQA unit awards along the way, so they will actually get qualifications in horticulture.

"As the year progresses, these horticulture qualifications will turn into leadership qualifications as well.

"So when they leave us, if they return to a mainstream school or if they get an offer for an apprenticeship somewhere, they will be able to say that this is what they're capable of."

He added: "The whole idea is the kids understanding that there is a world out there that wants them, that they can be a part of and that wants to include them - and seeing gardening and the outside environment as being a way of unlocking the doors into other places."

For more information and to make donations, you can get in touch with Jonathan via email at [email protected].

For more information on Heybridge Cooperative Academy, you can visit its website using the link here.