You *will* receive "valuable educational opportunities both beyond the school gates and in the school grounds"!

Driving past the our local park today was a crocodile of young secondary school pupils with their teacher, looking extremely wet, bedraggled and miserable in the pouring rain.

I couldn't help wondering whether the poor mites had been taken there in connection with this latest government edict, which includes the following sentiments from Jim Knight, schools minister:

"Learning shouldn't just take place in the classroom - it takes place all the time, in the world around us."

"We want to give children valuable educational opportunities both beyond the school gates and in the school grounds."

"Learning outside the classroom can bring learning to life by deepening young people's understanding of the environment, heritage and culture."

I don't think children should be kept in a classroom between 9am and 3pm every day either, but nor do I think they should be frogmarched outside 'because it's good for them'! If learning really takes place "all the time, in the world around us," then why does it have to be so contrived? And, for that matter, compulsory?

Oh good Lord. There's even a Learning Outside the Classroom mandate. They'll be calling it home education next.