Cirrus Primary Academy Trust

The Enabling Environment

We provide a high quality and highly engaging ‘Enabling Environment’ that plays a key role in supporting and extending each child’s learning and development.

The enabling environment; both indoors and outdoors, is critical. It supports children to be fully engaged in purposeful play of their own choice and interest. The indoor and outdoor areas provide learning opportunities for all seven areas of learning but the two areas do not mirror each other. 

Indoors, for example, provides the ideal place for children to be calm and to play quietly pursuing activities which require small equipment and using resources that will not survive the outdoor elements.

Enabl 1

Outdoors provides opportunities for more vigorous and active play.

Enabl 2

Pupils initiate their own learning and adults join them and support them in their pursuits. In order to support genuine choice, we have a workshop style environment. In all areas, the resources are available and accessible to the children at all times. The areas are clear, stocked and tidy at the start of the day.

Some spaces have additional provision to extend or build upon children’s interests or to consolidate adult led learning. By enriching provision in this way, we can ensure that all pupils are keen to learn, to try new activities and to explore in a meaningful way. Tidy time is short. All resources are labelled clearly or ‘shadowed’ so that pupils can independently take responsibility for looking after their own environment.

The Indoor Environment - Continuous Provision

Environ 2

Environ 3

The Outdoor Environment - Continuous Provision

Outdoor

Promoting Learning through Display:

Each display matches the classroom area where appropriate.

Displays show the process of learning for each half termly theme; photographs display adult led provision and child-led play. Children’s writing/creative work completes the display to show the learning journey and to celebrate progress made.

We do not change displays so the whole classroom becomes an aide memoire of the year’s learning supporting the children to learn more and remember more.

Display