Nature as a classroom - should we be enabling more learning outdoors?

Every organisation has its faults. At Plastic Free North Devon, one of ours is definitely the inability to say ‘no’ - in fact our core team even has a ‘can’t say no club’ Whatsapp group!  Perhaps that’s a disadvantage of having a positive, can-do culture when it comes to workload, but it can open up fantastic opportunities and lead to new ways of thinking about how we can deliver our mission.  And that’s exactly what happened when Ilfracombe Academy got in touch with us last year.

With words to the effect of ‘We have some Year 8 (12-13 year old) students who would really benefit from spending some time outdoors, can you help?’ Ilfracombe Academy asked if we could run 6 sessions for 8 students over the course of the Spring and Summer terms.  ‘Of course,’ was our response and we came up with a programme that aimed to:

  • Access some of the key habitats in the North Devon Biosphere Reserve

  • Increase the students’ knowledge of nature in our local area

  • Introduce them to the main environmental issues and discuss approaches to them

  • Encourage them to feel amazed by, part of and caring towards nature

  • Inspire them to want to explore and learn more

  • And above all else have FUN!

Our Monday morning sessions have included ’rockpool safaris,’ microplastic hunting, sand dune exploration, birdwatching and mud-wallowing on the Taw estuary, tree planting and visits to woodlands, an organic dairy farm, and to Ilfracombe’s Aquarium and Earth Repair Centre. 

Working with a small group over a sustained period of time clearly has its merits. We all get a chance to get to know each other, establish a team dynamic and to discuss and build on the themes and subjects we cover.  Opportunity here for a lasting impact when compared to a one-off ‘experience.’ And comments like ‘I’ve never seen sand dunes before, they’re beautiful’ definitely make it all worthwhile.

Everyone involved, students, staff, the PFND team and other supporters, have had a great deal of fun. It’s not often you look forward to Mondays, but we all do when we’ve got one of these sessions planned.  There has been a noticeable change in the students too, both within the sessions and throughout the programme, with them becoming increasingly confident and outgoing.  

Research into the impacts of learning in the natural environment (LINE) underline what we have seen. LINE has direct educational, health and psychological benefits for children along with indirect benefits ranging from social to financial.  Various studies have demonstrated that education with a strong environmental focus and in a natural setting improve educational outcomes, attitudes to other children, awareness of science and environmental subjects, behavioural outcomes and social cohesion, health benefits and staff morale. Where education projects include cross-community and inter-generational mentoring then the benefits extend beyond the school to the wider community.    

We are now into our second term with a new cohort of students.  Seeing the success of the programme so far, we are looking at how we can sustain and grow it by providing opportunities for more students and a pathway that they can progress along as they get older.  This could well become the most magical and impactful project that Plastic Free North Devon has ever done.

For us, it’s not about getting children ‘out of the classroom’ it’s about enabling them to gain access to the greatest classroom that exists!

Watch this space…. and if you’re reading this and would like to support the programme - we are well and truly on the funding hunt, get in touch with claire@plasticfreenorthdevon.org.

claire moodie