Earthwatch Europe has been successfully working with many schools across the UK to plant Tiny Forests on their grounds and beyond, in close by public areas. These offer a wildlife-rich space on school sites for enhanced outdoor learning and play.
 
A Tiny Forest is a dense fast-growing native woodland, typically made up of 600 trees planted in a tennis-court sized plot of 200m2. The forests are not only an attractive location for wildlife, but for people as well, and can provide a range of benefits in the fight against climate change. Tiny Forest uses a planting method developed in the 1970s by Japanese botanist, Dr Akira Miyawaki, to encourage accelerated forest development.
 
However, we know many schools don’t have space for a Tiny Forest. We are therefore exploring appetite for other types of nature features (i.e. nature-based solutions such as edible hedgerows, orchards, bush planters, ponds) to enhance school grounds.
 
What benefits would this bring your school?
 
  • Connection to nature: Creation of a nature-rich space within school grounds that can be used as an inspiring outdoor classroom to support students’ connection with nature and environmental education, offering opportunities for students to get hands-on.
  • Teacher CPD: Earthwatch webinar introducing teachers and educators to nature-based solutions and how to engage students in experiential outdoor learning connected to the national curriculum (with free teacher and student resources).
  • STEM Enrichment: Guidance for teachers and educators on how to use the space/feature for citizen science monitoring, enabling students to track its environmental benefits, including e.g. biodiversity.
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* 1. Would there be appetite to install nature features within your school grounds (e.g. edible hedgerows, orchards, bush planters, ponds)?

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* 2. Would your school consider funding or fundraising for this?

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* 3. Would your school be interested in Earthwatch finding a funder such as one of our corporate partners? E.g. OVO Foundation, Mini, Bloomberg.

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* 4. Would there be safety and/or accessibility concerns with installing e.g. a pond?

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* 5. Would you have any concerns around maintenance?

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* 6. Would you be interested in Earthwatch-led training and resources for using these nature features in your teaching?

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* 7. What opportunities or benefits do you see for your school and students in creating and using nature features in your school grounds? (consider pupil population, curriculum teaching, school strategy, how you'd like to use the space etc.)

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* 8. If you'd like to hear about opportunities to work with Earthwatch Education to create nature features in schools, please provide your email address. 

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