FOREIGN Secretary Jeremy Hunt met his match at All Saints’ School in Tilford taking on a Question Time-style panel of children to officially open the school’s new outdoor classroom.

The former Health Secretary – who replaced arch-Brexiteer Boris Johnson at the Foreign Office earlier this year – was quizzed on the big topics of political debate by the primary pupils who were keen to learn about his job representing Great Britain on the world stage.

But the focus was very much on the big outdoors as the big wide-world outside of the European Union post-Brexit.

All Saints is a firm advocate of outdoor learning. Research shows young children are spending less time outside and have fewer physical activities.

At the same time, youth obesity and mental-health problems are on the rise.

To combat this, All Saints believes it is vital schools embrace the power of imaginative education outside the classroom walls.

Headteacher Sara Bedford said: “Children love being outside and there is substantial evidence that playing and working outdoors has fantastic benefits for the health, wellbeing and learning of children and their teachers.

“Outdoor learning is engaging, collaborative and highly creative.

“At All Saints, we plan carefully to ensure all our children are immersed in creative challenges every day.

“The opening of our new, all-weather outdoor classroom enables us to do this in beautiful natural surroundings.

“It’s exciting and a real affirmation of our commitment to developing happy, well-balanced children.

“We were delighted to have the opportunity to showcase our vision and school with Mr Hunt.

“Our children thoroughly enjoyed meeting and interviewing a government leader.”

After Mr Hunt cut the ribbon to open the new classroom, the Tory MP for South West Surrey said: “All Saints School is a great place with staff doing a first-class job of teaching and developing young pupils.

“The creation of this outside classroom with enable the teachers to do even more to inspire and nurture these children – what a fantastic start to school life.”

All Saints’ development head Louise Walters added the new outdoor classroom offered children a ‘huge variety of opportunities’ – from blasting rockets across the field to painting bluebells in the woods, challenging pupils to run for seven minutes before they’re seven years old, to identifying British trees and birds.

“Our children’s time outdoors makes for impressive results, cheerful children and all-round achievers at All Saints,” she said.

“Outdoor learning harnesses children’s natural curiosity. It keeps them enthused – excited to learn, keen to solve problems, thinking critically, communicating with each other, building relationships and mastering persistence.

All are the building blocks for success in education and, as the World Economic Fund has stated, all will be essential skills for careers in the future.”