Alternative Provision

Pupil walking in the grasses near walney

Relatable and relevant outdoor learning

Alternative Provision Approach

Relevant, place-based and outdoor learning can re-connect students with education in ways that feel curious, skills-focused and encourage regulation.

Resources link students to broader skills which support future careers and help them to reach their potential.

MBC Skills Portfolio

Throughout 2024 and 2025, the MBC AP Working Group have been exploring ways to engage learners in developing their skills. Through this process, they created the MBC Skills Portfolio, a two-level award designed for KS3 and KS4 students at schools and Alternative Provisions.

It aims to develop essential skills for post-16 education and employment through practical, place-based, outdoor learning activities, following the head, heart, hands pedagogy.

Step 1) Download the Facilitator's Guide here to use the MBC Skills Portfolio in your setting.

Step 2) Download the student MBC Skills Portfolio here, students can fill it in digitally in powerpoint, or this file can be downloaded, printed and students can fill it in on paper.

This diagram shows 6 badges - bay navigator, coastal crafter, coastal communicator, bay warden, bay survival skills, and coast explorer — Explore the six badges that make up the MBC Skills Portfolio!

‘Resources for our Bay’: Research-Enhanced Alternative Provision Teaching Resources

Lancaster University academic, Mike Stead has been working alongside Dan Webber from South Cumbria PRS, to develop teaching resources and a virtual game that links cutting-edge sustainability research to progressive Alternative Provision practice.

Explore the resource below:

example of the game working - a qr link on a post sticking out of the ground — Sneak-peak into the GO:Morecambe Bay game!

GO: Morecambe Bay

Using Design and Technology to Increase Outdoor Learning and Engagement with Walney Island’s Nature and Regeneration

Alternate Provision – Years 7 to 11

GO: Morecambe Bay is a phygital (physical-digital) activity which uses simple yet exciting Augmented Reality (AR) technology to enable learners to creatively and critically interact with the natural and human-made geography, ecology and the climate of Walney Island and surrounding Barrow area. Focus on local histories, celebrations of place and engage in badge-collecting challenges so that decision making becomes a fun and strategic act!

GO: Morecambe Bay Overview

GO: Morecambe Bay Teaching Resources - Free Dropbox Download