Land Trust Annual Review 2021: Charitable Delivery - Education

Green spaces are great places to learn about nature and the environment and our Estates team and Managing Partners create spaces that facilitate learning and provide educational opportunities that lead to further education or in many cases employment.

Engaging with young people and schools

Our ability to work with schools and young people was clearly severely hampered by the pandemic. However our staff and Managing Partners worked hard to find new ways to provide resources for young people to help them through the very challenging time.

A fantastic example of this work was the Outside is Fun project run by our Managing Partners The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) on our South Yorkshire Community Woodlands. This project involved working with schools within walking distance of our sites in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham to develop bespoke programmes of outdoor learning over three years. It is part of the larger Children and Nature Programme that is funded by the Department for Education as part of the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.

One of the schools to benefit from this project was St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Dinnington.

Executive Headteacher, Andrew Truby, said:

“Working alongside TCV has been a joy this year. You have provided some much needed outdoor learning fun for our young people. The Year 6 class loved their den building experience and the kit has provided hours of fun across school since the workshop – thank you for kindly leaving it behind.

“The home learning kits provided (so that our pupils isolating at home could continue to learn alongside their peers) matched our ethos of hybrid learning and the children at home receiving the same offer as those in school and the joy of seeing children receiving clay to complete crafts at home was lovely.

“The wooden slices at Christmas provided the perfect distraction for some of our KS2 children who were struggling at the time to be in school and they enjoyed creating Father Christmas wooden decorations, which have not been hung on trees but stored away at the children’s request to be sold at a fundraising event next Christmas!

“The quality of provision and resources is second to none and the preparation that goes into providing resources and communicating events and resources
is exceptional. Our community is a better place thanks to your support.”

Educational Site of the Year

Wellesley Woodlands was a worthy winner of the Educational Site of the Year after a fantastic 12 months.

A wide range of new educational materials were created including an Outdoor
Learning Pack, Nature Explorer backpacks and Go Wild activity sheets.

These have been hugely popular and have been widely distributed to local schools. They are also hosted online and regularly posted about on social media to raise awareness in the local area. A fungi-film and self-guided trail were also created. The team were also able to host events for World Oceans Day, run Forest School activities and orienteering training. They also engaged with other events organisers facilitating activities with organisations such as the West End Centre/Hampshire Cultural Trust, Handlebards Outdoor Shakespeare, Wellspring Forest Church and various Beavers and Scout groups.