Curiosity and scientific thinking
Pupils observe closely, ask questions, identify patterns and use evidence to explain what they find in the world around them.
In-school outdoor education for UK schools
Give your school a complete outdoor-learning programme — led by your own trained educator.
Practical training, ready-to-use lessons and ongoing support to help your staff deliver purposeful bushcraft education year after year.
- Educator training
- School-led delivery
- Ready-to-use resources
- Ongoing support
01 / How membership works
Training creates confidence. Basecamp makes it repeatable.
The membership model is the heart of the offer: your school gains the confidence and structure to lead its own programme over time.
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01
Start with people
Train your educator
Your nominated educator receives practical training before leading the programme with pupils.
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02
Make it manageable
Use Basecamp
Choose a suitable lesson and use clear resources, preparation guidance and safety prompts.
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03
Build capability
Deliver and develop
Run school-led sessions and return to the programme for continuing support and development.
We train you. We provide the programme. You deliver the adventure.
02 / Learning outcomes
More than a day outdoors: learning children can carry forward.
Every activity gives pupils a practical reason to observe, make decisions, work with others and reflect on what happened. The aim is not simply to keep children busy outside; it is to make learning memorable, purposeful and visible.
Bushcraft is not a National Curriculum subject in its own right. It is a practical context for teaching and applying relevant parts of the National Curriculum in England.
Practical problem-solving
They design, make, test and improve — whether they are building a shelter, planning a route or selecting the right materials.
Connection to place
Local grounds become a place for fieldwork: pupils notice weather, habitats, maps, routes and the relationship between people and environments.
Confidence with others
Safe, supported challenges give children repeated opportunities to communicate, cooperate, persevere and take responsibility within a group.
National Curriculum in England
Make the curriculum connection explicit in every lesson.
Each lesson should show its relevant subject link, child-friendly learning intention and observable outcome. This gives teachers a clear planning route and gives leaders a more credible evidence base than a general claim of “outdoor learning”.
- Science
- Working scientifically through close observation, questioning, identifying and classifying, simple tests and recording findings.
- Geography
- Fieldwork in the school grounds and local area, map skills, compass directions, weather, habitats and human and physical features.
- Design & Technology
- Designing and making purposeful structures, selecting tools and materials, then testing and improving what has been made.
- Physical Education
- Where planned, practical tasks can support movement, balance, coordination, sustained activity and cooperative challenge.
This mapping is written for England. Do not use it as a claim of alignment in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland without a separate, locally reviewed curriculum map.
03 / Make the case
The same programme must satisfy more than one person.
Give each contributor the evidence they need, while keeping the central story simple: trained staff, prepared delivery, and a sustainable school capability.
School leader
A programme you can explain with confidence.
See the full commitment before you approve it: what is included, who is trained, how delivery begins and what evidence your school can keep.
- A clear implementation route
- A governor-ready approval brief
- An honest view of the ongoing commitment
Teaching lead
Prepared to lead, not left with another resource bank.
Practical training comes first. Basecamp then gives you a clear route through the lesson, equipment, safety prompts and follow-up.
- One place for the lesson essentials
- Support that continues after training
- A programme shaped around your setting
Business manager
A purchase route with no hidden shape.
Membership is sized by pupil roll. An optional out-of-school delivery addendum can also help a school use its trained team and programme more widely — with the right controls in place.
- Pricing by school size
- A formal approval summary
- A clear route for optional out-of-school delivery
04 / Beyond the school day
Make the membership work beyond the timetable.
For schools in England, an approved out-of-school delivery addendum can allow a trained team to use the programme materials for its own optional after-school, weekend or holiday bushcraft sessions.
Keep it school-led
Your trained educator uses the prepared programme to deliver a session that remains part of the school’s own offer.
Offer a genuine optional extra
Parents choose a separately organised, out-of-hours club or holiday session; it is not a charge for compulsory learning.
Recover eligible costs
A locally approved per-place charge can help cover the actual permitted costs of provision and reduce the membership’s net cost — never create a profit stream.
Sample lesson view
Tracks, signs and stories
Learning focus
Observe closely, gather clues and explain a conclusion.Prepare
Simple field-edge route, printed pocket plan and observation materials.Safety prompt
Clear boundaries, adult positioning and a defined return point.What to keep
A short class reflection and the next suggested activity.The live site should only show real lesson artefacts. Nothing should appear as a button unless it opens and is ready for a teacher to use.
For teachers
Training first. Clear guidance when it matters.
- Practical educator training before delivery
- One clear route through each prepared session
- Ongoing support as confidence grows
05 / Safety & assurance
Show evidence, not just reassurance.
A cautious school should be able to check the practical and governance questions before it is asked to buy.
Safe delivery
Show an example lesson structure, equipment checklist and risk-assessment approach.
Children & data
Explain safeguarding, privacy and the class-level approach to progress information.
Inclusive learning
Make the programme's approach to access, adaptation and curriculum purpose visible.
Due diligence
Make the evidence easy to find.
Request the checklist06 / Investment
Make the investment as clear as the programme.
This mock deliberately does not invent a price. Once the commercial decision is final, show it here plainly — with VAT, renewal terms, training inclusions and any optional starter equipment.
01
Small school
A focused starting point for a smaller pupil roll.
Membership price
To be confirmed
Replace with approved monthly and annual figures.
Includes: Training, Basecamp access, programme resources and ongoing support.
Request a formal quote02
Medium school
A school-wide programme for a typical primary setting.
Membership price
To be confirmed
Replace with approved monthly and annual figures.
Includes: Training, Basecamp access, programme resources and ongoing support.
Request a formal quote03
Large school or federation
A larger membership designed around your delivery scale.
Membership price
To be confirmed
Replace with approved monthly and annual figures.
Includes: Training, Basecamp access, programme resources and ongoing support.
Discuss a trust routeThe purchasing checklist
What needs to be explicit before checkout
| Question | What the live site should state |
|---|---|
| What is included? | Training, programme access, support, any limits, and optional starter packs. |
| How does payment work? | Monthly/annual price, VAT, renewal, card/PO availability and invoice route. |
| When does access begin? | Exact onboarding and subscription-start timing. |
| What is live today? | Current curriculum and resource availability, clearly separated from the roadmap. |
| Can we run a paid out-of-school club? | Only with a separately approved delivery addendum that sets the school-run use, price and licence boundaries. Local charging, remissions and safeguarding checks still apply. |
Replace stock imagery with a teacher visibly leading a real school session as soon as consented photography is available.
07 / Impact
Let schools see the result in a setting like their own.
Publish evidence as it is earned: a school context, the delivery challenge, the implementation route and the measurable result.
Pilot evidence
Case studies should combine a school-leader view of value with a teacher's view of confidence and day-to-day delivery.
08 / Founder’s vision
Experience should reach the people who teach every day.
Jonathan Stodart is the founder behind The Bushcraft School. Born and raised in the Yorkshire Dales, he has spent nearly two decades practising bushcraft and survival skills, including delivery of the Bushcraft Award Scheme in local schools through Yorkshire Dales Bushcraft.
His ambition is not to make a school dependent on a visiting specialist, but to give its own educators the confidence, structure and support to lead meaningful outdoor learning themselves.
That is why the programme begins with practical training, then stays useful through prepared lessons, clear curriculum links and ongoing support.
The vision
Give every school a practical route to purposeful outdoor learning — in the places, with the people and within the timetable it already has.
Free to play
Try Forest Skills, our free game for pupils.
Five skills to learn before a night in the woods — fire, shelter, foraging, camp cooking and finding your way. No sign-up, no adverts, and nothing is collected.
Your next waypoint
Give colleagues something useful to approve.
The live route should send a concise membership summary, sample lesson, implementation plan, assurance checklist and, where relevant, out-of-school delivery addendum to a school email address.