Learning through Landscapes, The UK School Grounds Charity

There have been two Growing Schools Gardens exhibited at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show (2002, 2007) as part of the highly acclaimed DCSF Growing Schools Initiative. The gardens continue to offer ideas to increase pupils' interest and involvement in the national curriculum in their new locations – the Greenwich Curriculum Environmental Centre and the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

How does it work?
2002 - Silver Gilt Award
Over 20 schools from primary, secondary and special education needs sectors around the country contributed to the this. Their ideas included an interactive pergola, a wooden storytelling chair, a multi-sensory washing line and geography materials for a school weather station.

2007 - Gold Award and Tudor Rose Award for Best Garden
Over 30 schools worked with designer Chris Beardshaw to include planting zones, a vegetable garden, a storytelling area and children’s artwork.

Both illustrate how cross-curriculum learning can be achieved through hands-on experience outside, including Citizenship, Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), Literacy and Numeracy and both are supported with resources on the Growing Schools website. In their new locations, the gardens are a resource for teachers and practitioners.

Member No:

Who is it for?
The gardens are a resource for teachers and practitioners across the country as centres of excellence in school grounds use, with ideas to increase pupils' interest and involvement in the national curriculum and natural environment:

To increase opportunities for pupils of all ages and abilities to experience animals and plants at first hand.
To make pupils aware of the natural environment and their responsibilities towards it as citizens.
To help pupils understand where their food comes from, so they can make informed consumer choices and understand the benefits of a healthy diet and active lifestyle.
To help pupils understand the place of farming in the economy and the attitudes and values held by people who live in rural communities.
To provide pupils with the time and space to reacquaint themselves with nature, re-establishing the links that have become unfamiliar to current generations of urban children.
To encourage teachers to explore a wider range of teaching and learning approaches so that both they and their pupils have a more challenging and rewarding experience.
To offer a hands-on approach to learning about the natural world and show how these approaches can be integrated into existing educational programmes, rather than in addition to an already packed teaching programme.
To show how outdoor learning can supplement and enhance the national curriculum, helping teachers to achieve the rich and varied curriculum recognised as best practice.
To help teachers become more confident in using outdoor resources to supplement and enhance their coverage of national curriculum subjects.

What should I do next?
Visit the gardens at:
Environmental Curriculum Centre, 77 Bexley Road, Eltham, London, SE9 2PE
t: 020 8294 5864, e:growingschoolsgarden@widehorizons.org.uk

Join LTL for advice and support, resources, case studies and funding opportunities for grounds projects.

Programme Partners

   The Growing Schools initiative is supported
   by the Department for Children, Schools and
   Families to help schools make good use of
   outdoor sites and encourage them to set up
   growing areas in their grounds.

FACE Logo

FACE (Farming and Countryside Education) is a national charity that aims to educate children and young people about food and farming in a sustainable countryside