Inset Days and Teacher Training

Our experience and infrastructure here at Magdalen provides the ideal venue for teacher training. We provide day and residential Initial Teacher Training and Continued Professional Development for Somerset and Devon LEA, SITT schemes and several universities. We specialise in the integration of the government’s Sustainable School Action Plan and offer a wide range of activities related to environmental fieldwork and Learning Outside the Classroom for both primary and secondary levels.

We also provide INSET days at schools, either during the day or as twilight sessions. We offer a range of training based on building up teachers’ confidence and skills in using school grounds and wider outdoor environments as an inspiring, engaging and memorable teaching and learning resource which bring the national curriculum to life. Popular training themes include:

Forest skills:
Learning to work with your pupils to safely use essential woodland tools to transform hedgerow resources into beautiful and useful artefacts that children can take home or enhance your school grounds.

Fire lighting, campfire safety and campfire cooking:
exploring a variety of ways to cook outdoors in the school environment. This includes using a storm kettle, solar ovens, fire bowl, lighting a fire without matches, fire etiquette and of course a delicious range of campfire recipes and campfire cooking techniques.

Exploring the elements:
take part in a variety of sensory activities which focus attention on the smaller details of the school grounds and how these connect to the four elements and the interconnectedness of all things. Includes activities based around water, earth, air and fire/light.

Maps and mapping:
look at how you can use your school grounds as an exciting place to teach map and mapping skills. Set up scavenger hunts and eco-quests, take part in orienteering exercises, micro-mapping and sensory mapping activities and games.

Eco-literacy and drama:
With a little help from drama bags, story lines and nature’s props, you will learn a variety of ways to fire up your children’s imaginations to weave woodland tales and perform plays in their own forest theatres.

Willow weaving:
learn the many beneficial and magical properties of willow, as we weave and sculpt a variety of living willow domes, tunnels, fedges and sculptures to enhance your school grounds and to provide you with skills to create further sculptures with your school.

Cob creations:
learn how to transform soil from your school grounds into seats, walls, sculptures and ovens made from cob. An immensely practical, fun and muddy learning experience which children and adults love!

The above themes are just a selection of the training days which we can provide. Each day is tailor-made to your own requirements and if necessary we can mix themes to create a day which suits your training needs. At the end of the day, we will provide you with handouts containing all the key information and risk assessments, enabling you to fully immerse yourself in the day without having to worry about notes. For more information please contact us

To find out more about any of our Programmes please contact Tilda Western, our Local Schools Outreach Officer
Tel: 01460 30144, extension 30

Feedback from participants:

A very enjoyable and fun way to further our learning to provide an enabling environment for our children.

A brilliant way to build our team work, I loved being given the chance to use tools and to use my imagination creatively.

A relaxed, hands-on day, brimming with ideas and activities.

Fantastic! The best INSET day I’ve ever been on.