Nature and ecology Education & Greening school grounds

We are really keen to help teachers use their own school grounds for biology fieldwork, nature education and wellbeing. Whatever space you have is likely to have enough wildlife in it to do some meaningful studies. Recognising the potential of your own spaces can safe teacher time and travel costs associated with school trips, and still get the students outside which is fantastic for their wellbeing and behaviour management.

Kim Polgreen runs nature education sessions for teacher training in schools, online, at Wytham Woods, and at the Oxford University Department of Education. We train people in how to introduce teens to nature, how to use identification resources and smartphone apps, how to find invertebrates to look at, including using moth traps and pitfall traps, and how to manage safety and behaviour outdoors. We are also helping local schools to increase the value of their grounds for wildlife, working with teachers, estates staff, and students.

"Thank you Kim, this was a very valuable experience. I could ask you questions for days. I love all of the ideas and knowledge you have shared, and I am excited to try and incorporate more outdoor learning to the students I teach. I would love to inspire our younger henerations to interact, appreciate, and understand and benefit from nature." Sally.

"Kim was so useful and knowledgeable. The session really helped me gain confidence in leading sessions with young people, even if I don't know all the answers. Kim gave us helpful tools to engage pupils like tree bingo and using the Seek app. My only improvement would be to make it longer so we had more time to learn and gain experience." Jo.