Meet the Nature Park regional team: East of England
Welcome to our new series where we meet the regional teams working on the National Education Nature Park!
Our regional officers work in locations across England, helping spread the word about the Nature Park and supporting schools in their region on their Nature Park journey. In this blog we meet Louis Langenberg, the Senior Programme Officer for the East of England and Jenna Gilmour, the Programme Officer for the East of England.
What excites you about the Nature Park?
"It is fantastic to see a range educational settings taking part in this programme. The pictures from last year’s Hidden Nature Challenge have inspired me to notice what plants and wildlife are in my surroundings when I am out walking."
What are you looking forward to most with the Nature Park?
"I am really looking forward to seeing what changes schools make or plan to make and how they engage with the programme through the 5-step cycle."
What is your favourite UK wildlife and why?
"I love watching birds and listening to their different birdsong. My favourite bird is a Robin because I love how they come so close to people."
What is the most interesting, unique or fun thing you've seen in school grounds?
"When I was supply teaching, I was amazed to see a Muntjac deer walking around the school field in the morning ahead of the children arriving. "
Jenna Gilmour, Programme Officer for the East of England
What excites you about the Nature Park?
"What excites me most is working with a diverse network of schools to empower young people, and all the user-friendly GIS tools that I can be a bit nerdy about."
What are you looking forward to most with the Nature Park?
"Being able to help schools map their changes, and see the impact in real time across the region, especially with teachers and young people that have never done this before. Also being able to share my random fun nature facts with more people!"
What is your favourite UK wildlife and why?
"Having grown up in South Africa, this is a hard question for me because I feel that I don’t know a huge amount, but I love otters! And cuttle fish are especially cool. Did you know, that in some aquariums they often have to remove cuttlefish from display because they can feel and display anxiety when overwhelmed. Being cephalopods, like octopus and squid, they have been studied and found to have an increased emotional intelligence."
What is the most interesting, unique or fun thing you've seen in school grounds?
"Saw a badger set in a forgotten, secret garden."
Meet the other Nature Park regional teams
- North West
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- East Midlands and West Midlands
- London
- North East
- South East and South West (Winter 2024)
Contact your regional team
To get in contact with your regional team please email us at [email protected]