There are many benefits to children spending time outdoors – we know this and we talk about it often. However, maybe we need to be asking another question: who actually gets those opportunities?
Natural England’s latest Children’s People and Nature Survey gives us something to think about. Almost two-thirds of children and young people were reported to visit green and natural places with their school at least once a term. However, the figures look very different when we take household income into account.
Among children living in households with an income below £15,000, 27% were reported to never go on a school trip to a natural place. For children in households earning £50,000 or more, that figure was just 5%. That’s quite a gap, and this data raises an important question for schools. Should access to nature be something children are lucky enough to experience, or should it be part of every child’s education?
For some children, school really matters. We cannot assume that every child spends their weekends walking through woodland, visiting the countryside or playing in a garden. There’s no doubt that children’s experiences outside school are very different. Infact, the same Natural England research found that 28% of children said school was where they spent most of their time in nature, while another 38% spent equal amounts of time in nature at school and elsewhere. Interestingly, children living with a disability were particularly likely to say they experienced nature mainly at school: 43%, compared with 25% of children without a disability.
For some children, then, the school day isn’t simply another opportunity to experience the natural world. It may be the only opportunity.
So does that mean schools need more trips? Not necessarily. Trips to forests, beaches, country parks and outdoor centres can be wonderful experiences, but they require money, staffing, transport, paperwork and time. If we want access to nature to be something every child experiences regularly, we need to think closer to home.
A tree on the playground matters.
So does the patch of grass behind the school hall.
The planter outside Reception matters.
So does the slightly muddy corner of the field where children always seem to find worms.
Outdoor learning doesn’t have to mean taking children somewhere special. Sometimes it simply means helping them discover what is already outside their classroom door.
Five ways to make nature part of every child’s school experience
1. Take ordinary lessons outside
Outdoor learning doesn’t always need to be an event. Measure trees in maths. Look for signs of seasonal change in science. Take a book outside and use the setting to inspire writing. Create transient art with fallen natural materials. Explore maps by physically moving around the school grounds.
The objective doesn’t have to change simply because the location does. Even one regular outdoor lesson begins to make being outside part of children’s normal experience of school.
2. Get to know your own school grounds
You don’t need a woodland to teach outdoors. Take a fresh look at what your school already has. Where are the trees? Where does water collect when it rains? Which plants flower first? Where do insects gather? Where is it windy, sunny, sheltered or quiet? An ordinary school site contains far more opportunities for investigation than we sometimes realise.
Better still, let the children conduct the audit – Give them a map and ask: Where is nature in our school – and where could we create more of it?
3. Create an outdoor entitlement
If access matters, it shouldn’t depend entirely on which teacher a child happens to have. Schools could create a simple outdoor experiences passport that follows children through primary school. Perhaps every child will plant something, grow food, build a den, cook outdoors, use tools, identify common wildlife, experience a campfire, navigate with a map or take part in a project that improves their local environment.
The exact experiences will be different for every school. The important part is that every child should be able to access those experiences.
4. Give children responsibility for nature
Outdoor enrichment doesn’t need to be something adults provide for children. Children can help shape it. They might become wildlife monitors, look after growing areas, join an Eco Council, create habitats, conduct a biodiversity survey or lead a project to improve an overlooked area of the school grounds.
The government’s new Enrichment Framework specifically includes nature, outdoors and adventure among the five areas schools should provide access to, including time outdoors, climate education, sustainability projects and gardening. It also emphasises making enrichment accessible and engaging for pupils.
That gives schools an opportunity to think beyond the occasional nature activity and ask what progression could look like across a child’s time at school.
5. Look carefully at who is missing out
Perhaps this is the most important part. When we audit outdoor opportunities, we shouldn’t only ask what do we offer?
We should also ask:
Who actually takes part?
Who goes on residentials?
Who attends gardening club?
Who gets chosen for Eco Council?
Who regularly learns outdoors?
And are there children for whom cost, SEND, anxiety, behaviour, physical accessibility or other barriers mean they experience fewer opportunities than their peers?
Start outside your own door
Creating more equitable access to nature doesn’t have to begin with an expensive outdoor classroom, a Forest School qualification or a coach trip to the countryside. It can begin with opening the classroom door. So, as we return to school this September, take a lesson outside. Outdoor learning can help make nature part of every child’s education – not just something some children are fortunate enough to experience.
