RSPB Pulborough Brooks hosted a visit from Bewbush Community Primary school and Henry Smith MP for Crawley as part of a UK-wide initiative to get every child outdoors.

The event was in response to a call from teachers for more outside facilities to ensure all children and young people have the opportunity to learn outdoors and have contact with nature. Henry Smith came to see first-hand the benefits contact with nature brings and also heard from teachers how valuable these experiences are educationally.

Henry Smith said:

“My family have always enjoyed our visits to Pulborough Brooks as a fun and informative day out. Giving children a better understanding of the environment is essential for their education and I commend the actions taking by Pulborough Brooks to ensure that more children from across Sussex have access to such outdoor facilities.”

The Reception class (4 – 5 year olds) spent the day taking part in a variety of hands-on activities. Including pond dipping for creatures such as water-boatmen, pond skaters and dragonfly nymphs; mini-beast hunting for bugs and beetles in the woods, and then finishing off with a sensory exploration of nature in the wildflower meadow.

Henry Smith added:

“My thanks, as ever, to the RSPB for their work – it was great to accompany pupils from Crawley on their visit. The Government’s Pupil Premium which has seen an extra three-quarters-of-a-million funding given to Crawley schools was designed to allow such enhanced educational experiences.”

Today’s initiative comes in response to new research, commissioned by the RSPB, from Ipsos MORI, that asked teachers what would encourage them to do more of their teaching outdoors (note 1).

After additional funding, primary teachers said that the thing they need to do more of their teaching outdoors was greater access to outside classrooms and outdoors facilities.

Hayley Riley, Early Years Leader from Bewbush Community Primary School, said:

“I believe that it is vital for children to explore nature through firsthand experience. Our school firmly believes that children should have as many outdoor experiences as possible to enrich their learning.

“Children should be given the opportunity to explore different environments. Places like Pulborough Brooks enable children to be close to nature and observe creatures, such as mini-beasts in their natural habitat. This is fundamental to children’s learning.”

This initiative, a partnership between the RSPB, Field Studies Council and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, sees them open the doors to all their teaching sites and centres.

Between them each year they welcome nearly a quarter of a million children and young people to their centres providing outdoor learning facilities to schools and universities.

At RSPB Pulborough Brooks they provide opportunities for 3,500 children who take part in the field teaching programme each year.

The reserve also holds the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom’s Quality badge – a kite mark recently introduced to demonstrate the high quality of outdoor learning that takes place as well as their health and safety procedures (note 2).

Despite all the evidence about the positive impacts contact with nature brings to a child’s education, health and wellbeing, many children are still missing out on these crucial experiences.

The RSPB, Field Studies Council and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust believe that every child should have regular contact with nature, whether in their school grounds, local environment, further afield, or with family and friends.

Jackie Day, Education Officer, said: “Here at Pulborough Brooks we provide a safe environment for children to learn about the wonders of our wildlife and landscape. We are very proud to have been awarded the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge which recognises our high standard of provision for the many school children that visit us each year”

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