As Youth Focal Points for Sustainability and Climate Change, we support the Department for Education in understanding young people’s lived experiences of sustainability in education, working to support the implementation and future development of policy.  

On Friday 24^th January 2025, I visited Bredon Hill Academy in Worcestershire to learn about their implementation of the National Education Nature Park and see first-hand their incredible commitment to embedding nature-based learning in the life of their school.  

Bredon Hill has an incredibly enthusiastic and committed Sustainability Lead, Sara Bankes, who has gone above and beyond in delivering nature-based learning and embedding sustainability in the school’s curriculum. In our engagement with schools over the last 18 months, we have learned that many settings do not yet have a Sustainability Lead in place, and have seen the vital impact that these individuals can make. As Youth Focal Points we are working to support the Department for Education in doing more to support settings in understanding who their Sustainability Lead should be and what support they should receive.  

Bredon Hill Academy has been involved in the National Education Nature Park for over a year. The National Education Nature Park is a free programme for all schools, nurseries and colleges in England that integrates climate and nature into everyday teaching and learning.​ Children and young people lead the way in exploring, mapping out and improving their learning sites for both people and wildlife -  developing their connection to nature and vital skills for their futures all while boosting biodiversity. By imagining all education settings as one big Nature Park we can track the collective impact that young people are having on nature recovery across the country.​

Bredon Hill has also been involved in the Nature Park’s Schools Forum. This is a youth board set up by DfE delivery partners the Natural History Museum to embed a range of young people’s voices in the aims of the Nature Park. The young people involved in the Schools Forum developed a series of key principles that will guide the future implementation and development of the nature park, including:

- Nature Park should help children and young people connect with nature throughout their school life, from the youngest to the oldest years

- Nature Park should help each young person involved understand nature is always there for you no matter how you are feeling

- Nature Park activities should help young people learn through active experiences of observing, exploring and investigating nature themselves, teaching topics that inspire awe and wonder of nature

Through supporting the Schools Forum to develop these key principles, the National Education Nature Park has shown a strong commitment to listening to young people and engaging directly to ensure their needs are met; going beyond tokenised youth voice and embedding principles thought up by participants in the programme themselves. As Youth Focal Points dedicated to promoting youth voice, we are  delighted with this work and urge other organisations to take similar action.

At our day in January, I met Sara Bankes along with three students from the academy involved in sustainability work. It was inspiring to learn from Ms Bankes about all the work they have been doing to implement the Nature Park, and support their students in developing knowledge about and a love for nature.

At Bredon Hill, students in Years 7 and 8 have every other Friday afternoon off timetable for extracurricular enrichment, and one of the sessions on the rotation is outdoor learning, using resources provided through the National Education Nature Park. I visited on a Friday afternoon, and learnt about how students were using outdoor learning time to develop their writing skills.  

Students spend a block of 3 afternoon sessions engaging with the Nature Park programme and outdoor learning, and in this time get to learn about nature in the schools dedicated nature area, along with taking part in the Hidden Nature Challenge in other parts of the school grounds. Having learnt how to complete a risk assessment, students are also able to climb trees (up to a safe height), and document what they learn and find in resources produced through the nature park. Throughout the three sessions, students apply their learning in the classroom to the outdoor environment, including through using tape measures and giant protractors to estimate the height and diameter of trees, and through using their descriptive skills they are learning in English to write about the world around them.

Speaking to students, it was clear how much they enjoyed learning in the outdoors and cherished the opportunity to apply their learning and knowledge outside the mainstream curriculum. Students emphasised how positive outdoor learning was for their wellbeing, and how time spent in nature at school was encouraging them to have conversations with their families about biodiversity and spending time in nature.  

Another really exciting initiative set up by Ms Bankes were the form gardens, small raised-beds for each form group that students can cultivate and care for in their lunch break. By giving students a leadership role and giving them agency over what they grow and caring for it, the school supports them in developing teamwork and leadership skills alongside an understanding of plant-life and a love of nature.  

What is really clear from my experience at Bredon Hill is how having an enthusiastic and committed Sustainability Lead transforms climate and nature learning at a setting. Sara Bankes has worked incredibly hard to deliver such an exemplary implementation of the Nature Park, but not all settings are lucky enough to have such a dedicated person working on their sustainability journey. The Department for Education are currently undergoing a refresh of their sustainability strategy, and Jodie Bailey-Ho and I, as Youth Focal Points, will continue to push within the Department for more support for Sustainability Leads and guidance around their role in schools.

Are you a young person with feedback about sustainability, climate change or nature in schools? Email us at will.wale@education.gov.uk and jodie.bailey-ho@education.gov.uk

Want to get your school, nursery or college involved in the Nature Park? Register for free to get started and access hundreds of curriculum-linked resources: www.educationnaturepark.org.uk