'Ahoy there' Empty Classroom Day!

Today is officially Empty Classroom Day and here at the Isis Education Centre, Hyde Park we welcomed 27 Year 6 pupils from a local primary school, St Augustines C of E Primary School , for our ever popular ‘Pirates in the Park’ day. The children are encouraged to come dressed up as pirates, where they are welcomed by ‘Cap’n Ali’, AKA (our ever enthusiastic Education Officer) and First Mate Marion.

The day started with a short session in one of our classrooms, where the children  learnt some new pirate facts. Cap’n Ali then took us outside and split the group into teams, giving them a variety of activities to get their creative minds working from painting flags to coming up with suitably ‘piratey’ team names. Think ‘Skull Crushers’ and ‘Creative Cannons’!

We then headed into Hyde Park where the real learning began. The children used ribbonometers to measure wind speed, thermomenters to find the best storage place for their ‘survival’ packs and then honed their navigation skills using compasses to search for buried treasure. They even managed to squeeze in building floating ships out of plastic containers, corks and pegs!

The joy on the childrens' faces was clear with every single one fully engaged in learning, they seemed sorely disappointed to leave the Park and head home. It made our day, when one of the lads who had been fairly quiet came up to First Mate Marion, and said ‘I wish I could stay in this Park forever!’  

The aim of Empty Classroom Day is that in every school in the world there will be an empty classroom and pupils will be learning in the great outdoors. And today, the smiles on the childrens' faces reminded us of a pirate finding buried treasure and that's why we support it every year!