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Roots to Green Living

Roots to Green Living

In partnership with the Cadbury Foundation, YPTE is delighted to have begun its first Roots to Green Living project with 8 schools in the Bath, Bristol & North East Somerset area.

The project started in September 2011 and is well underway with some great ambitions.  Running for three years, each of the eight schools receive free expert support and encouragement to enable them to develop and maintain new environmental areas and facilities for their school grounds.  The emphasis of this project is on talking to the children, developing grounds, integrating outdoor education into the curriculum, and ensuring that this work continues well beyond the end of the project.

Participating schools -

Batheaston Primary School, Bath
Bathford Church of England School, Bath
Holymead Infant School, Bristol
Longvernal Primary School, Midsomer Norton
Newbridge Primary School, Bath
St Anne’s Junior School, Bristol
St Mary’s Church of England School, Radstock
Welton Primary School, Radstock

So far projects in the pipeline include hedgerow habitats, woodland walks, wormeries, Olympic themed areas and maths, art and identification trails.  For resources on outdoor learning see our great list - Resources.

Roots to Green Living is about inspiring and educating children to understand, enjoy and care for the environment both now and in the future.  The more active and passionate their interest in their environment, the more likely they are to lead themselves and others to make better informed and more sustainable decisions about their world.

We will be developing this page to provide participating schools with more information, resources, links and contacts.

Why outdoor education is important

‘It is widely recognised that spending time outdoors in green spaces, such as parks or nature reserves, can be restorative or calming, improve health outcomes through higher levels of physical activity and can improve mental health in both children and adults. The body of research demonstrating the beneficial effects of spending time and learning in green spaces is growing...’

‘...the breadth of evidence available on the restorative effects of outdoor educational is considerable and there has been a continuing policy interest in the health and wellbeing outcomes associated with the use of outdoor spaces in education’.

All the above quotes taken from ‘Outdoor Education: The Countryside as a Classroom’, published by The Countryside Alliance Foundation, 2010.