Bringing nature into school grounds

By Mary Jackson

Asphalt is the dominant material in many school grounds, but it doesn’t have to be that way

School grounds make up a significant area of cities, with the average in the UK being over two hectares in size. They are spaces that children and young people spend large amounts of time in, spaces they learn from and play in, spaces that can bring communities together and spaces school pupils consider to be their own. We now know how important nature connection is for children and young people’s mental health yet many city schools still have asphalt-dominated grounds, whilst new schools are not required to have any school grounds at all.

For schools created in the 19th and 20th centuries sport and playground games were priorities and climate change had yet to take hold. In today’s schools, priorities have changed. As well as understanding the mental and physical health benefits of nature connection, more schools use their grounds for learning whilst naturebased play is rising in popularity and greater community use is being encouraged. They are places where complex scientific and mathematical problems can come alive through practical and hands-on lessons and where the arts can be taught creatively in an ever-changing environment. Yet

the design of school grounds often remains the same. And whilst it is true to say there are some excellent landscape architects designing creative, inspirational and nature-rich school environments, there are still far too many new city school grounds that are barren spaces, some with expansive areas of coloured asphalt or safety surfacing, or that incorporate large, expensive and low-value play or fitness structures, with few opportunities for pupils to experience the natural world.

In the UK many primary and special schools are making moves towards more nature-friendly and consequently more child-friendly grounds and new build primary schools often have elements in them that endeavour to support their use for play and learning. But is nature connection also central to designers’ thinking? The key to well-designed school grounds is asking the right people the right questions. Pupils, staff and the wider community, including parents and carers, should be at the heart of the consultation from the start and, whilst this is not always possible with new build projects, consulting those who will be the users should still be the aim. Without this consultation, and through not asking the right questions, we see designs that look great but with little consideration for how they will be used. For this reason Learning Through Landscapes (LtL) encourages school communities (including pupils) and designers to start by looking at where the school is now – what are the grounds like and how are they used? Only then can they ask, ‘What do you want pupils to DO in school grounds? What experiences do you want them to have?’. This emphasis is key, as asking what things they want to HAVE in their grounds can lead to expensive, underused elements being incorporated. We commonly hear from staff, parents and pupils alike that the experiences they want for pupils include spending time in nature through lessons and play, growing plants, having daily contact with wildlife or just rolling in long grass, experiences that do not necessarily require large spending to create them.

Yurikago Kindergarten, Japan provides children to explore challenging play within a natural environment.

This progression to ‘greener’ grounds is slower in secondary schools. Maybe this is because secondary teachers don’t see the outdoors and its impact as a priority, perhaps it’s because they don’t have the overview across subjects that primary teachers do or maybe the challenge just seems too big. Mental health and wellbeing issues are particularly concerning in secondary schools, so introducing more nature into these spaces should be a priority, not just an added extra if the school is lucky. Secondary school grounds are generally larger than in primary schools so their potential for addressing climate change issues, including sustaining biodiversity, are greater too. This can help pupils discover how to make a practical difference themselves, as well as learning more about green careers – including landscape architecture.

At Caledonia Primary School, Glasgow they not only use the concrete tunnels as a jumping off point, but their nursery pupils became in internet sensation when they acted out ‘We’re all going on a bear hunt’ in Gaelic using their diverse school grounds.

© Malcolm Cochrane

Inspired by the work in Berlin, LtL worked with a number of Scottish schools, including Carmunnock Primary School, Glasgow, to create features formed from natural materials.

© Malcolm Cochrane

Around the globe the issues are the same. Children and young people living in cities are losing contact with nature and climate change is affecting everyone. ‘Greening’ school grounds is not new, but the manner and scale of how this is being achieved is changing and we can learn from these different approaches. Founder and CEO of Green Schoolyards America, Sharon Danks, refers to the low ecological value of many urban school grounds, contrasting these with ‘living schoolyards’ that incorporate gardens, trees and natural play areas. In Berlin Grün macht Schule has been addressing the problem of asphalt sites for over thirty years, with the result that more than 500 schools in the city have had their grounds transformed into nature-rich spaces, perfect for play, learning and just spending time.

At Learning through Landscapes we are celebrating our 30th anniversary as a charity with a vision of school grounds designed, used and managed to their full potential for the benefit of children and young people. LI Past President, Merrick Denton-Thompson’s own freerange childhood experiences inspired the establishment of LtL and over the years we have supported schools and those who work with them to make the best of their grounds. We produce resources, guidance documents and training for educators and designers, we work with partners on research and through projects, and have leveraged £30million into school grounds. Yet, we are still at a point where school grounds are not a requirement for new schools, where grounds have less protection from being sold off than in the past and are the first to have their building budgets cut.

Allowing nature to encroach into school grounds is a common feature in Berlin. Many play structures take uneven forms with sand as the safety surfacing, creating challenging play opportunities.

Water management at Reinhardswald- Grundschule becomes part of the landscape so that when it rains a new play feature is created as well as excess water managed.

It is 10 years since LtL hosted an international school grounds conference that was the forerunner to the International School Grounds Alliance (ISGA) being established and a series of international conferences. In 2020 the ISGA returns to the UK, this time to Scotland. From 24th to 26th September designers, educationalists, researchers, artists and environmentalist will gather in Stirling for three days of conference, focusing on meeting the challenges of school grounds.

As part of the conference there will be a specific design stream with landscape architects from Germany, Canada, Ethiopia, Brazil, Bangladesh and the UK presenting their work. Topics will include participatory design, climate resilience, design for play, designing for children with additional needs and designing for different climates. But it is not just landscape architects that will inspire. For example, a group of students from Christchurch, New Zealand, will be sharing their experience of having no school building following the 2011 earthquake and how this influenced their new school design, whilst we will also be hearing from educators from South America who take learning out into the rainforest.

The youth of today are showing their passion for the environment and are making their voices heard. This makes it the perfect time to take a fresh look at school grounds in the UK and how they should be designed for the 21st century. Piecemeal changes are not enough, and new schools should have nature-filled grounds that truly meet the needs of the communities they serve. Realistic budgets for new-build grounds will have the greatest immediate effect, and we need to keep fighting for this funding, but bringing nature into schools’ outdoor spaces is not always expensive. In a recent LtL project to encourage pollinators into school grounds, more than 250 schools spent on average just £800 transforming their grounds with growing areas, wildflower meadows, orchards and a range of other habitats. Designing these types of features into school fields and playgrounds, or just changing maintenance regimes, does not mean expensive additions are required but can significantly add to the quality of school grounds bringing nature closer to children and young people who live in cities.

Mary Jackson is Head of Education and Communities at Learning through Landscapes. LtL is hosting the 2021 International School Grounds Conference on 23rd, 24th & 25th September 2021. For more details and up-to- date information visit https://www.ltl.org.uk/projects/ isga2021/