Holbrook Primary School wanted its new outdoor classroom to provide much more than shade and shelter. The aim was to create an engaging learning environment that could support outdoor teaching while helping pupils explore renewable energy, sustainability and STEM subjects through practical experience.
To achieve this, the school chose an outdoor classroom incorporating both our Power Mixer renewable energy system and accompanying Sound Mixer outdoor audio system.
Together, these features transform the building into an interactive educational resource. Pupils can see electricity being generated from the wind and sun, explore the resulting energy data and then experience that renewable power being put to practical use through sound, music and spoken audio.
The School’s Objectives
The new outdoor classroom was designed to support several areas of school life:
- Curriculum-based outdoor learning
- Practical STEM activities
- Environmental and sustainability education
- Science and mathematics investigations
- Eco-club projects
- Music, storytelling and creative activities
- Pupil wellbeing and quiet listening
- A greater understanding of energy generation and consumption
Rather than treating these as separate subjects, the completed classroom brings them together within one permanent outdoor learning environment.
A Flexible Outdoor Classroom
The classroom gives Holbrook Primary a dedicated space where pupils can learn outside while remaining protected from the weather. It can be used for whole-class activities, smaller group work, nature study, reading, discussion and creative projects.
Moving lessons outdoors can introduce a welcome change of environment and allow teachers to deliver subjects in a more visual, practical and participatory way.
However, what makes this particular outdoor classroom distinctive is that elements installed within and around the building become teaching resources in their own right.
Renewable Energy Pupils Can See and Measure
The Power Mixer is a working, off-grid renewable energy system developed specifically for schools.
Electricity is generated by a solar panel and wind turbine before being fed into the Power Mixer control board and stored within its battery. Visual displays allow pupils to follow the process and understand:
- Whether energy is being generated by wind, sunlight or both
- How much electricity each source is producing
- How renewable energy is stored
- How much energy has been generated over time
- How weather conditions affect performance
- How stored electricity can be used to power suitable equipment
This turns renewable energy from an abstract classroom topic into something visible and immediate. Pupils can observe what happens on sunny, cloudy, windy and still days, make predictions and compare the actual results.
Supporting STEM Learning with Real Data
Information collected by the Power Mixer can be used across several curriculum subjects.
In science, pupils can investigate electricity, renewable and non-renewable energy, circuits, battery storage and environmental impact. In mathematics, they can record results, calculate totals and averages, compare percentages and produce charts and graphs.
The system can also support computing, design and technology, geography and wider environmental projects. Teachers and pupils can use its web-based platform to examine live and historical performance data from inside the school as well as at the outdoor classroom.
This provides Holbrook Primary with a continuing source of real information rather than a one-off classroom demonstration.
Turning Renewable Electricity into Sound
Installed alongside the Power Mixer is the Sound Mixer, a child-friendly audio system powered by the renewable electricity stored within the Power Mixer battery.
School staff can upload their chosen MP3 recordings through the unit’s password-protected Wi-Fi connection. An external internet connection or specialist app is not required.
Content could include:
- Audiobooks and narrated stories
- Poetry and spoken-word recordings
- Curriculum information
- Music for outdoor performances
- Pupil compositions
- Nature sounds
- Calming music and ambient audio
- School announcements or project recordings
Simple illuminated controls allow pupils to operate the Sound Mixer independently, while staff retain control over the available content and maximum volume.
The Sound Mixer provides a clear practical connection between the two systems: pupils do not simply see that renewable electricity has been generated—they can hear what that electricity is helping to power.
Supporting Creativity and Wellbeing
Although the two systems provide strong links to STEM and sustainability, the outdoor classroom can support much wider learning.
The Sound Mixer can accompany performances, provide audio for storytelling and poetry, play pupil-created recordings or introduce music into outdoor lessons. Gentle nature sounds and calming audio can also be used for relaxation, emotional regulation and quieter wellbeing sessions.
This versatility allows the classroom to support different pupils, activities and areas of the curriculum throughout the school day.
A Visible Commitment to Sustainability
The completed outdoor classroom gives Holbrook Primary a practical and highly visible way to demonstrate its commitment to sustainability.
Pupils can see that renewable energy is not simply a topic within a textbook. It is being generated within their own school grounds, measured through live displays, stored in a battery and used for a recognisable purpose.
The installation can support classroom lessons, eco-club activities, assemblies and longer-term environmental projects while encouraging pupils to think about where electricity comes from and how it is consumed.
The Completed Project
Holbrook Primary School now has an outdoor classroom that combines sheltered learning space with renewable energy generation, live data and interactive sound.
The Power Mixer and Sound Mixer help turn the structure itself into part of the curriculum—providing opportunities for pupils to observe, question, measure, listen and participate.
It is an outdoor classroom designed not only as a place in which to learn, but as something pupils can actively learn from.
Watch the Power Mixer and Sound Mixer at Holbrook Primary School in action below.
Watch the Holbrook Primary School video
Written by Simon Fearnehough, founder of The Hideout House Company, with more than 15 years’ experience developing outdoor learning environments for UK schools.
