Teachers in Leicester are going Wild About Learning with the help of Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust

Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust recently held teacher training sessions at Mellor Community Primary School and Marriott Primary School thanks to support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery. The sessions provided teaching staff with the necessary plans, equipment and ideas to run lessons outdoors.

During the training sessions, teachers sampled a number of the activities from the pack, covered key areas of study, and received a selection of lesson plans linked to the National Curriculum, all of which require minimal preparation and have been designed to work on any school grounds. Participating primary schools were also given two printed copies of the Wild About Learning teachers’ pack for further guidance.

Simon Bentley, director of Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust, said: “Outdoor learning improves children’s cognitive abilities and resistance to negativity and depression, so we want to encourage teachers to incorporate nature into their lesson plans as much as possible. We appreciate that this can be difficult without the correct resources, which is why we have developed our training sessions to give teachers some guidance. Ultimately, we want schools to join us in helping make nature a part of growing up for all children.”

The Wild About Learning teachers’ pack forms part of the Wild Forest School project supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. Wild About Learning is an outdoor numeracy and literacy resource for Years one to six that provides fun, but practical ideas to help teachers take their lessons outdoors.

To download the Wild About Learning teachers’ pack visit, www.wildforestschool.org.uk/wild-about-learning. For more information about Forest School run by Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust visit, www.wildforestschool.org.uk.

For the latest news from Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust visit www.lrwt.org.uk.