FSC Projects

Schools in the Park

Schools in the Parks is an exciting new project which will help staff and volunteers working in London green spaces to work closely with local secondary schools, to encourage outdoor learning. Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, Natural England, Lambeth Borough Council and Field Studies Council the project will work in the London Boroughs of Lambeth, Lewisham, Greenwich and Southwark, across 20+ green spaces and with 50 state secondary schools. This project will build on the best practice established during FSCs previous project, London Outdoor Science.

Schools in the Parks will:

• Employ a full time Project Officer, based in Lambeth
• Providing high quality training for Park staff and out-of-classroom educators(greenspace managers – both staff and volunteers), based on best practice in initial training and continued professional development of teachers, to support the use of parks and open spaces by local secondary school science departments
• Identify appropriate local sites and help greenspace managers to risk assess their sites
• Create resources linked to secondary school curricula (particularly science) to support teaching and learning in local fieldwork sites
• Support fieldwork visits by local secondary schools as part of parks staff training
• Build a network of contacts of interested teachers

By the end of this three year project:

• Greenspace managers will be more aware of the historic, cultural and biodiversity significant of their sites and have developed good methodology for sharing this information with visiting young people of secondary school age.
• All schools in Greenwich, Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth, boroughs will be involved and we predict 30 of the 50 schools will be ‘new users’, becoming actively involved in local fieldwork for the first time.
• Greenspace managers (staff and volunteers) working in at least 20 sites will be supported by teaching resources, risk assessment training and ‘practice’ school fieldwork visits
• Over 2000 students will have visited local parks and sites
• A London wide workshop and published guidelines will disseminate the outcomes and good practice of the project to greenspace managers and science teachers throughout all London secondary schools and nationally through teacher’s forums.
• A London wide network will be established, working with partners on the Steering Group, looking to strengthen the relationship between those teaching outdoor science in secondary schools and London’s parks and nature reserves.

For more information, please contact Schools in the Parks Project Officer Beth Jones

Email: beth@field-studies-council.org
Phone: 02079266211

Address:
Beth Jones
Schools in the Parks Project Officer
4th floor Blue Star House
234-244 Stockwell Road
London
SW9 9SP