the educator mag May 24 (1) - Flipbook - Page 70
Putting climate and
nature at the heart
of education with the
National Education
Nature Park
In the face of a rapidly changing world, embedding climate and
nature across everyday teaching and learning is essential.
The National Education Nature Park aims to
do exactly that. This free programme, for all
schools, nurseries and colleges in England,
puts climate and nature at the heart of
education to empower young people to
make a positive difference to both their own
and nature’s future.
Developed by the Natural History Museum
in partnership with the Royal Horticultural
Society and a whole host of other partners,
and commissioned by the Department for
Education as part of their Sustainability and
Climate Change strategy, the programme
sees young people leading the way in
transforming their learning spaces into
havens for both people and wildlife.
With their teachers, learners follow a
five-step cycle to explore, map out and care
for their spaces, making improvements to
turn the ‘grey’ areas a little bit greener, all
while developing their connection to nature
and vital skills for their future studies and
careers. This flexible and adaptable process
allows settings to choose how to integrate
the Nature Park into their teaching and
learning, and it can be built upon year on
year.
Young people identify what would best
improve their site for nature and the school
community, before making a plan and
putting it into action. This could range from
growing pollinator-friendly plants and
digging ponds, to building green walls and
planting hedges.
Together, this network of newly greened
spaces forms the National Education Nature
Park. Collectively, these small acts will add
up to have a big impact, with the area of
England’s primary and secondary schools
alone adding up to around twice the size of
Birmingham. An online map tracks the
collective difference being made for nature
across the country, and National Education
Nature Park science researchers are using
the data collected by young people to study
the impact they are having on biodiversity
through their actions.
grounds – the greener space creates a more
calming and pleasant environment to be in
and everyone is looking forward to seeing
the difference it makes through shade and
cooling this summer.
A growing library of quality-assured
resources support educators to integrate
climate and nature education into national
curriculum learning across subjects and
support each step of the Nature Park cycle.
Boosts for biodiversity
By changing parts of human-made areas
back to natural habitat, however tiny, we are
creating homes for wildlife to flourish and
boosting biodiversity. Natural habitats also
improve wellbeing, increase calmness and
coolness on a site, and can improve water
drainage and climate resilience.
There are also a wide range of skill building
and engagement activities for all ages, to
help young people become more confident
in engaging with nature, whatever their
previous experience or comfort level may be.
Creating a green wall at Co-op Academy,
Manchester
Thousands of schools, colleges and
nurseries have already joined the Nature
Park and started to make positive changes
on their sites. One of these schools is Co-op
Academy Manchester, a secondary school
with over 1600 pupils, where students have
worked to develop a living wall to help
transform their playground from a grey
space to a greener one.
Through the Nature Park process and
creating a map of habitats on their school
site, students identified a grey,
concreted area of their school grounds
outside a technology classroom that gets
very hot in the summer. By using the Nature
Park resources and activities to select a
suitable habitat improvement to address
these issues, students decided to work
together to install a green wall. They knew
the south-facing space would be perfect
for plants as it gets sun all day, and that the
living wall would help shade and cool the
technology classroom.
The green wall is already transforming staff
and student experiences of the school
One of the Nature Park’s first boosts for
biodiversity was at The Nest Nursery in
Birmingham, who created a new pond in
a previously a fenced-off area of rubble in
their outdoor space. The outdoors has always
been a big part of the pedagogy at the Nest
Nursery, and they aim to give children free
access to the outdoors in all weathers.
The Nature Park has helped them with this
goal — enabling them to use their outdoor
space more and providing pupils with the
opportunity to interact with freshwater
wildlife. This is just the start of their Nature
Park journey, and they hope to enhance
other areas of their outdoor space for nature,
including developing a secret garden area
and planting more flowers.
Get involved
To get involved, simply head to the National
Education Nature Park website to register,
add your school to our map and access the
free resources to begin your Nature Park
journey.
Everyone can take part, no matter the size,
shape or type of outdoor space you have.
You don’t have to be an expert, and it can be
linked to all curriculum subjects.
The more people that get involved, the
bigger the impact we can have for both
people and the planet.
Find out more and register your setting at www.educationnaturepark.org.uk
