Examination Courses and the Curriculum

Outdoor Education at Pendarren House is the ideal place to get your students to fully participate in the outdoor and adventurous activities part of the National Curriculum as detailed below: 

Being located in the ecologically diverse Brecon Beacons National Park, and close to the beaches of the Gower and South Wales, Pendarren House is perfectly located to undertake field studies in both geography and biology. The experience and local knowledge of the Pendarren House Staff give any group the opportunity to study these environments in full. The teaching team includes qualified teachers and all the team have in depth knowledge of the local environment.
Many of these study days can be combined with adventurous activities to enhance the enjoyment of, and learning about, our mountain or coastal environments.

GCSE & ‘A’ Levels

PE

Pendarren offers courses which cover the syllabus requirements for a variety of PE modules including hillwalking, kayaking, canoeing, orienteering and rock climbing. The syllabus is covered with a mixture of theory and practical sessions culminating in an assessment.  If required video can be taken to provide evidence. Your course will be run by experienced staff with a huge passion for the great outdoors who will work in conjunction with your teachers to allow the course to be fully integrated with your own schemes of work.

In our experience the standard required at each level varies between the various syllabi and between subjects so you may prefer to discuss the options with Pendarren House.

The hill walking module can be completed using a combination of school and Pendarren, with the planning and expedition carried out at Pendarren House Outdoor Education Centre. We take groups into the hills of the Brecon Beacons to deliver the A Level Hill Walking syllabus. Whilst with us your students will learn how to navigate, map read, lead groups in the hills, pace, walk on a bearing, use a compass and all the other aspects of a hill walking. It’s a great week with lots of fun albeit with a serious side to the course, that being to get the best possible practical marks.

Geography

Our GCSE week enables students to get out into the environment and fully immerse themselves in the geography. This allows students to put theoretical knowledge from the classroom into a truly memorable real-life context. For each examination board we can focus on their specific requirements.
For example, we can focus upon coastal landforms, sand dune morphology, conurbation studies and comparisons, glaciation, river studies from the mountains to the sea, primary industries and their impact.

Students will carry out fieldwork enquiries collect case-study material to help them answer questions in many areas. We can provide fieldwork opportunities covering topics such as extreme weather, crowded coasts, unequal spaces, rebranding places, cold climate, cultural diversity, river studies, coastal erosion.

Science KS4

For all exam boards we run courses that enable students to undertake investigative fieldwork to help prepare them for Controlled Assessments

Biology

During the week students will investigate some of the following concepts: biodiversity, adaptations, variation, classification, conservation, ecological relationships, energy and ecosystems, the physical environment, the effects of human activities and sustainability. We use fieldwork to help students gain a strong understanding of how science works and to firmly embed these ideas with practical learning. We can cover different aspects of the specifications from the examination boards.
 

GCSE & ‘A’ Level intensive revision courses

Combining intensive revision study with the exhilaration of outdoor activities has been proven to improve results.
These courses exercises both mind and body, making GCSE and A-Level revision a fun, memorable and worthwhile activity, rather than a cramming nightmare.

Courses are bespoke and may include sessions of theory, revision, and mock exam interspersed periods of fun activities. These courses will improve their understanding, confidence, and exam technique. Teaching is shared between school and Pendarren staff to make the most of the staff teaching ability and give students the best course.

Pendarren is well resourced with a number of classrooms with whiteboards, smartboards and internet facility.
Revision courses have included English, maths and science but could be history, art, music, foreign languages – anything you want.

Add a new dimension to GCSE & A-Level exam study!!

English, Art, History, Physics and Other Subjects

English

Outdoor learning at Pendarren can provide opportunities for exploring how beliefs and values are held, expressed, and developed. There is an immediacy to being outside that heightens the senses, prompts a sense of connection to the environment and raises the questions of identity, meaning and purpose fundamental to learning about what it means to be. Our outdoor spaces often provide new and inspiring contexts for philosophical exploration and discovery and serve as a useful resource for personal reflection and development.

Times to be still, to look and listen, to touch, to move and to wonder offer rich experiences for discussion about us and our sense of belonging and uniqueness, as well as issues of beauty, truth and goodness. Direct encounters with nature and the world outside the classroom can invigorate learning and encourage superb descriptive writing.

Art

Utilise the beautiful landscapes of the Brecon Beacons to inspire your students. Rugged scenery, pastoral scenes, still life, wildlife, rural towns and communities can all be tentatively put on canvas in the field and then completed in our large classroom.

Expressive arts

The use of drama, art, music, and dance allows children to experience the world in different ways. The use of expressive arts ensures diversity in the interpretation of places and natural and social events happening outside. Developing an awareness of space and its use as a stimulus for creativity and expression is another reason for taking learning outdoors. Expressive arts outside can offer opportunities for collaborative working on a large scale.

Outdoor spaces and places also offer an increased variety of contexts for creating and presenting ideas. Contributing to or creating public performances outdoors can enhance the sense of community and understanding of what it means to belong to a place. There are specific practical skills and problem solving associated with taking expressive arts outdoors, such as projecting voices, making works of art that can withstand the elements and managing musical instruments outdoors.

History

A course at Pendarren can the enrich the KS3 history curriculum especially regarding the development of Church, state and society in Medieval Britain 1066-1509 and the development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745. With our local area rich in examples of the English/Welsh struggle, churches and caves used in the reformation up to Raglan Castle which was sacked by the Roundheads after being taken from the Royalists.

Sciences

All science subjects have elements that are better taught outdoors. Environmental sciences are particularly relevant and demonstrate principles and practice that cut across biology, chemistry, and physics. Students can have a very different learning experience outdoors from that in the classroom or laboratory. Outdoor learning frequently involves teamwork and a different ethos of working in a less structured environment. In sciences this learning can lead to a lifelong interest in a particular aspect of the environment. Science taught outdoors encourages considered thought about our use of resources and the impact of this on the local environment, and about the scale of the natural world.

It demonstrates the wonders of the environment and allows learners to learn to interact with the living world in a climate of safety and respect. The learners’ experience of observing class-based theoretical examples can be enhanced through real-world experiences. Many basic scientific concepts can also be demonstrated through games. A simple walk around the school grounds can provide opportunities for learners to experience and observe a range of scientific principles and their applications.

Mathematics

To develop deep mathematical understanding and secure numerical skills, children and young people need to engage with maths in meaningful contexts where abstract mathematical concepts can be applied to real-life situations. Taking maths into the outdoors provides an ideal vehicle for this approach. Numbers are tools people use to make their lives less complicated outside or in. Children and young people benefit from learning maths outdoors through having access to limitless mathematical resources and contexts.

There are increased opportunities for dialogue and developing mathematical language and concepts when working practically with others. Pendarren offers the ideal opportunity to do this in a wide range of our activities.

Citizenship

We have hosted Haringey’s Youth Councils for meeting and teambuilding events as well as being the ideal location for discussion groups and school councils to bond together and work collaboratively.

Design and Technology

Undertaking design and technology outdoors provides opportunities to investigate and experiment with the earliest and latest in human technology, making connections between our past and present. Being outdoors aids reflection on the designs, materials and processes that are used, and which influence all our lives. The links between the planet and consumption of finite resources can be made through bushcraft.

Using plants that have different purposes, such as medicinal or dyes for clothing, can help embed sustainable principles when explicitly taught and demonstrated. Pendarren’s grounds and outdoor spaces benefit from design projects such as building window boxes, animal homes, outdoor ovens, seating, etc. Interpretation of the grounds and signage is a design process.

Social subjects

Real-world learning outdoors is a fundamental experience all young people need in order to have a good understanding of past, present and future societies, places and environments. Experiencing the sights and sounds of the house grounds, outdoor space and local Welsh area can help students to become more connected to the community. It is an opportunity for learners to meet and talk to people in context and experience different points of view.

When studying local or national issues the subject may become more relevant and meaningful and make greater sense. Using local outdoor spaces and engaging with their sights and sounds enables pupils to empathise with past or present communities and environments. Enterprising projects that have an element of outdoor work foster community links. Developing social studies skills such as map making becomes purposeful and relevant outdoors. It improves learners’ spatial and temporal sense of place in the world through learning experientially how to locate, explore and link features and places locally and further afield.

Languages

Using Pendarren as a base for learning Languages can add an extra dimension to the experience. Learning new vocabulary and expressing themselves whilst being pushed outside of their comfort zone can imbue a whole new level of understanding. We even have staff who can instruct activities in French and German!

Geography

Pendarren is the ideal place to broaden the geography curriculum at KS3. Use of the Brecon Beacons National Park is an ideal venue for both physical and human geographical studies.