One Adult, Twenty Five Children, Outdoors

Boundaries first, always

Before anything else, walk the boundary with the whole group and name it. Not near the wall, not past that tree. Physical, visible, walked, not described.

Do this every single time for the first month. It becomes automatic and then it is free.

One signal, taught indoors

A raised hand, a clap pattern, a whistle. Practise it inside where it is quiet, several times, before you ever need it outside. A signal introduced outdoors under pressure does not work.

Stations, not one activity

Twenty five children doing one thing means twenty are waiting. Four stations of six, rotating, means everyone is occupied and you are supervising rather than delivering.

Set up the stations before the children come out.

Give jobs

The more named roles you hand out, the fewer unoccupied children you have. Materials monitor, counter, recorder, timekeeper, boundary checker.

Children with jobs do not wander.

Head count on a rhythm

At the boundary walk, at every rotation, and before going in. Say the number out loud. It takes four seconds and it is the thing you will be asked about if anything goes wrong.

Shorter than you think

Twenty minutes of genuinely well run outdoor time beats an hour that falls apart at minute thirty five. Finish while it is still going well.

What to do when it goes wrong anyway

Signal, gather at a named point, sit down. Sitting down ends almost every escalation on its own.

Then either reset and continue, or go in early without making it a punishment. Going in early once is fine. Making it a threat is not.