Six ways to celebrate the Nature Park at the end of term
We are almost approaching the end of the first academic year of the National Education Nature Park, and what a year it has been! Over 2,800 schools, colleges and nurseries across England have signed up, with over half of these adding themselves to the Nature Park map and over 120 starting to create a map of the habitats in their outdoor spaces.
We’ve seen schools creating new habitats to provide homes for precious wildlife, from installing green walls to building ponds and rain gardens. We can’t wait to see the programme go from strength to strength and to see the Nature Park community grow over the coming months and years.
Take a look at our list below for activity ideas to celebrate everything you have achieved through the Nature Park programme this year. Whether that’s been through creating new green spaces on your site, or just getting started with thinking about how you might integrate climate and nature into your everyday teaching and learning, it’s time to celebrate!
1. Celebrate the Nature Park in your end-of-year assembly
We’ve prepared some assemblies and certificates to give out in your end-of-year celebrations, so you can celebrate everyone that’s been involved!
Check out the assemblies
2. Make a zine
Want to see your achievements in writing? Zines are self-published magazines or publications, which can be a great way of displaying complex ideas creatively and for children and young people to share what matters to them. Try out our zine-making activity to bring together the things you have collectively discovered and learned so far throughout the Nature Park programme.
Make your own zine
3. Invite the local community to see what you have achieved
You should be proud of what you have achieved, and other people need to see it! Why not invite members of your local community – parents, guardians, local councillors and MPs, local press and any other connections you might have – along to your school, nursery or college to show them all of your amazing work.
Use our letter templates
4. Share what you have been up to on your website and social media
We’ve got some images for you to share your involvement on social media, and we’d love for you to share what you have achieved through photos of you taking part in any Nature Park activities, or before and after photos of your site! Remember to use #EducationNaturePark, and get in touch with us if you’d like to appear as a case study or blog post on our website.
Celebrate taking part
5. Display a Nature Park plaque
Have you created an amazing new habitat in your grounds? It's time to make your mark, by displaying a Nature Park plaque to tell everyone about what you've done and how they can help to look after it!
Display a plaque
6. Get ready for the next steps in your Nature Park journey
If you have just signed up to the Nature Park, a great step you can take at the end of the year is making sure you have added yourself to the Nature Park map by creating your site boundary, or recorded your starting point by mapping your site so you are able to measure all of the differences you make from this point forward. Familiarise yourself with the Nature Park five-step process and start thinking about how to integrate it into your teaching next year.
If you are a bit further along in your journey, you might want to have a think about how to best maintain your site over the summer, and make sure you have mapped your site and added any changes you have made to your Nature Park map.