£10m for greener school grounds and outdoor trips

As part of the newly launched Year of Green Action, the Environment Secretary Michael Gove has allocated £10 million to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds better access the natural environment, with grants awarded to projects that will create greener school grounds and increase the number of school visits to local parks, wildlife sites, care farms and National Parks.

It comes as figures show one in 10 children do not regularly spend time outdoors. The £10 million programme allocated will help schools and education providers with the highest proportions of disadvantaged pupils to design more outdoor-focused activities, boosting pupils’ contact with nature and supporting their health and wellbeing.

The funding will also increase access to care farms, making it possible for 1.3million children and adults facing disadvantage or social exclusion to benefit from activities on a working farm.

A key pillar of the 25 Year Environment Plan is to connect young people with nature and the projects announced today will be delivered by Natural England with a number of partners from spring 2019, with funding from the Department of Education.

As part of this programme, the National Centre for Social Research will also be carrying out research to understand how activities in nature impact pupils’ mental health and engagement with school.

Commenting on the funding, Lord Blencathra, Natural England’s Deputy Chair, said: "Connecting children with nature is one of the most important things we can do for them. It can boost their health, wellbeing and learning and give them a life-long love of the natural world that leads them to cherish and protect it forever.

"I hope these projects will ensure that every child has the means of discovering the wonders of our wildlife."

The #iwill4nature initiative, charity Step Up To Serve’s contribution to the Year of Green Action, will also launch today. The government-backed initiative is a nationwide campaign to grow environmental youth social action and support a series of activities for young people to connect with, protect and enhance nature. This includes appointing young ambassadors to drive environmental action in their communities and encourage environmental volunteering such as litter picking, planting pollinator-friendly flowers or fundraising to maintain or enhance green spaces.