The Schools Programme
The Owl Project is designed to be flexible and can be used as a whole or as individual activities. It provides a tried and tested framework for small group activities outdoors, which can be delivered by teachers, LSAs or one to one support staff.
The OWL project consists of three 8 week programmes of activities, one for each school term - autumn, spring and summer. The activities are divided into three different sections: Skills, Sensory and Social.
The Skills activities mainly provide experiences of gardening skills such as sowing seeds but also include some learning and knowledge of nature and the environment.
The Sensory activities enable the children to use their senses to notice things such as colours, textures and smells.
The Social activities are conversation topics which give the children gentle opportunities to explore some common social and emotional difficulties they or others may experience.
These activities link to the four OWL areas: Learning and Experience, Self-confidence and Resilience, Relationships and Communication which, in turn, support the school curriculum, particularly science and PSHEE.
Each stand-alone session of skills, sensory and social activities will last for approximately one hour. This makes it easy to slot the OWL project into the school day.
The activities are designed to be light in terms of resourcing to make it cost effective and easy deliver on a tight budget.
Click below to see an example of a termly overview, links to the OWL areas and a session plan.