Sutton High Prep School will teach all pupils outside in a purpose-built outdoor classroom at least once a week come rain or shine after children said COVID-19 lockdown walks had made them calmer, happier and more able to concentrate.? 
Sutton High Prep School in Surrey, who won Independent School of the Year for Student Careers Programme at our Independent Schools of the Year Awards 2022, has begun a multi-million-pound extension to its buildings led by architecture and design ideas from its 4-11 year olds, who told headteacher Anne Musgrove that they wanted lessons that connected more with the environment and nature.? 
During lockdowns, the school made sure pupil wellbeing and mental health was being kept on top by implementing a new initiative, as headteacher Ms Musgrove explains: ?Just prior to the pandemic, we initiated a teaching programme called Brains Matter in which every morning children were asked to chart their emotional barometers and understand how and when their moods change and why. We also had weekly assemblies about how the brain works.
“This stood the girls in great stead when the pandemic hit because throughout lockdown, they were able to notice when they felt better and why ? and it was invariably when they were outside, immersed in the environment.? 

?When pupils returned to school, and we were at the beginning of our planning stages for the extension, it became clear from pupils that they were now unhappy with being stuck inside all week....