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School Grounds Development Guide

• Step 1: Why Bother?
• Step 2: Share the Idea
• Step 3: Establish a group
• Step 4: What have you got already?
• Step 5: What would you like to have?
• Step 6: How do you pay for it?
• Step 7: Who should do the work?
• Step 8: How should you look after it?
• Step 9: Making the best use of your new resource
• Step 10: Moving on with the environment
• Case Studies
• Contact

Education

Teaching outdoors can provide an exciting alternative to the conventional classroom and an enriched learning experience. Many subjects and areas of learning contain elements that can only be taught outside, for example science and geography, whilst others contain aspects that can be adapted for outdoor teaching. The outdoors also provides an opportunity for children to practice and develop skills that they have already learnt within a different environment, e.g. counting, observation, classification or design.

Below are just a few examples of how school grounds can be used to teach a range of subjects from the National Curriculum as well as support areas of learning in the Foundation Stage Curriculum ; the links and contacts laid out at the end of this section provide many more.

National Curriculum

• Geography - investigating environmental change and improving local environments; developing geographical skills such as compass and map work.
• Art practising observational drawing; design i.e. artwork for the school grounds mosaics/murals; natural art e.g. colour/texture.

  Fox with Painting Pallette

• Mathematics measuring e.g. length of paths; presenting data e.g. favourite games; shapes e.g. tessellation; using and applying maths e.g. planting densities.
• Science demonstrate and illustrate a variety of different habitats and study which exhibit adaptation and interrelationship e.g. food webs, nutrient recycling, light and temperature.
• Citizenship - developing a healthy, safer lifestyle e.g. by designing shade features / exercise areas.
• Education for Sustainable Development undertaking an environmental audit of the school environment; use of recycled / sustainable materials in developing the school grounds.

Foundation Stage Curriculum

Nursery and Primary Schools may wish to consider developing at least part of their schools grounds specifically with their early years pupils (i.e. 3 - 6 yrs) in mind. Installing play equipment, incorporating different shapes, patterns, numbers and textures into the development, laying out activities trails and features that encourage imaginative play or establishing a vegetable patch, wildlife area or pupil's garden, are all activities that will assist pupils to succeed in each of the areas of learning laid out in the curriculum.

Useful Links And Contacts:

The National Curriculum Online (External) www.nc.uk.net *

Department for Education and Skills, DfES (External) www.dfes.gov.uk *

Learning Through Landscapes (LTL)

Nationally one of the major organisations involved in the promotion of improvements to the educational use and environmental quality of school grounds development, Learning Through Landscapes was established as a charitable trust in 1990. LTL produce a number of useful publications covering a range of topics related to school grounds development, links to the curriculum and guidelines for getting started. Whilst a lot of information is available on their website (External) www.ltl.org.uk *, schools can opt to become members, entitling them to access additional information on developing their grounds, including teacher resources and the very useful 'Groundnotes' series on fundraising and pupil involvement amongst other things. Membership costs £50, for more information contact LTL at the address below or visit their website.

Learning Through Landscapes,
3 ^rd Floor, Southside Offices,
The Law Courts,
Winchester.
SO23 9DL

Tel: 01962 846258

Chatburn Wildlife Project, Lancashire

An on-line resource for the Lanehead Quarry Biodiversity Corner, Chatburn, Lancashire; which also incorporates the Chatburn Primary School Wildlife Garden. This site provides a number of useful resources for teachers relating to:

• Sorting, Classification, Keys
• Food Chains/Webs, Producers/Consumers
• Habitats, Communities, Adaptation and Life Cycles
• Rocks and Soils

These resources which link in with the National Curriculum can be downloaded and photocopied, and could be used by schools to link into the process of surveying and developing their grounds.

Further information can also be obtained from the Lancashire Wildlife Trust at (External) www.lancswt.org.uk *.

Naturenet

(External) www.naturenet.net * is an on-line resource, providing a whole host of information on the Countryside and Nature in the UK.

An independent site and well worth a visit, having an entire section devoted to Environmental Education and Interpretation ( (External) www.naturenet.net/education *) providing resources for teachers, work sheets, games, information and links to recommended sites.

Arts Unit Lancashire County Council, Directorate for Children and Young People

The Growing Schools Programme

Launched in September 2001, the Growing Schools Programme is an initiative aimed at increasing pupil's interest and involvement in outdoor education, using farms and growing as a resource. It is supported by a £500,000 fund from the DfES. A show garden was designed to demonstrate the links between indoor and outdoor study, together with a host of practical ideas that could easily be used in school grounds.

For more information, details of how to become involved, updates on the Show Garden's progress and resources visit (External) www.schoolsgarden.org.uk *.

RSPB

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds provides a whole host of information and resources for teachers on its website (External) www.rspb.org.uk .* They include lesson plans and worksheets and are aimed at all ages and a variety of areas of the National Curriculum, for example Education for Sustainable Development.

The RSPB Field Teaching Centres at 'Leighton Moss and Morecambe Bay' and 'Ribble Discovery Centre' provide opportunities to study wildlife and experience activities such as pond dipping.

For more information on the Field Teaching Centres contact:

• Leighton Moss and Morecambe Bay,Tel: 01524 701601
• Ribble Discovery Centre,Tel:01253 796292

HDRA's Organic Network for Schools

The organic organisation HDRA aims to encourage schools of all types and in all locations to sow, grow and nurture plants using only organic methods. Any plants can be chosen, vegetables, flowers or fruit. Their website, (External) www.hdra.org.uk/schools_organic_network * provides a host of useful information on how to develop an organic garden, together with student/teacher guides and explicit links to the national curriculum.

In addition to the contacts and links listed above, it may also be helpful to refer to the 'Education for Sustainable Development - Directory of Contacts for the Lancashire Area', published by the Lancashire County Council Education and Cultural Service Directorate and distributed to all schools in December 2001. 

( * External link see terms )

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