Gaps in education attainment between high and low achieving children in the primary school years are frequently evidenced in educational reports. Linked to social disadvantage, these gaps have detrimental long-term effects on learning. There is a need to close the gap in attainment by addressing barriers to learning and offering alternative contexts for education. There is increasing evidence for beneficial impacts of education delivered outdoors, yet most programmes are un-structured, and evidence is anecdotal and lacks experimental rigour. In addition, there is a wealth of socialemotional outcomes reported yet little in the way of educational attainment outcomes. The current study explores the educational impact of a structured curriculum-based outdoor learning programme for primary school children: 'Wilderness Schooling'. A matched-groups design: Wilderness Schooling (n=223) and conventional schooling (n=217), was used to compare attainment data in English reading, English writing and maths, collected at three time-points: Pre-(T1) and postintervention (T2) and at a 6-week follow up (T3). Data show that children in the Wilderness Schooling group significantly improved their attainment in all three subjects compared to controls. Trajectories of impact indicated attainment continued to increase from baseline in the following weeks after the intervention concluded. These results allow the case to be made for the core curriculum to be conducted outdoors to improve children's learning. However, it is important to consider that there are likely to be various components of the intervention that could form a theory of change essential to reported outcomes.

These analyses confirmed sustained teacher-reported improvement over a year-long follow-up period.

International audienceChildhood behavioral and emotional symptoms are linked with distress and dysfunction that may persist into adulthood. Effective and practical early prevention could make a significant contribution to the well-being of individuals and the functioning of communities. School-based targeted interventions are relatively easy and inexpensive to deliver and have been shown to reduce symptoms in the short term. The current study evaluates the 2- and 3-year outcome of targeted school-based drama group therapy (DGT) as compared to teaching maths and English. It shows a rapid decline in teacher-observed behavioral symptoms following DGT. By a year post intervention, symptom rates following both interventions converged and remained low throughout follow-up. Drama group therapy is rapidly effective in reducing symptoms. However, the findings also suggest that despite differing content, school-based small-group interventions are likely to share some effective components

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Background The mental health (MH) and wellbeing of our children is in crisis. Increasing prevalence of disorder and need is placing extreme stress on under resourced and over stretched services. Most at-risk are those living in areas of social deprivation who experience multiple adverse effects of poverty and inequality in health access and care. Within the health sector Social Prescribing (SP) as a provision to target mental health and wellbeing has gained in popularity in adult MH, yet there is little exploration of SP practice addressing children’s MH or the value of embedding SP into education as well as the health sector. This study explores the feasibility of SP for children within an at-risk community, utilising cross-sector collaboration to design and implement a SP programme with health and education referral. Methods Taking place in the West End of Newcastle, SP programme design involved community consultation with 60 primary school children, 38 cross-sector professionals, and 9 parents. Implementation involved a hierarchy of three governance groups of cross-sector stakeholders. Results ‘Zone West’ (ZW) was designed in response to a gap in the provision of support for children with MH needs below clinical thresholds but generating repeat attendance at primary care or poor educational engagement. Referral pathways for health and education sectors were defined, and the value of implementing SP into education were highlighted. Key to implementation was ‘buy-in’ from cross-sector partners and embedding ZW into community services. Conclusions SP offers the opportunity for early identification and intervention of child MH difficulties. Success requires cross-sector collaboration which presents unique challenges; unclear processes for information sharing and separate funding streams. More work is required to ensure these are streamlined and to evaluate evidence of impact to provide sustainable and replicable models in the future.