Our work

Discover how we’re transforming outdoor learning and play through training, advocacy, and projects that create lasting change in education.

At Learning through Landscapes, our work is focused on transforming outdoor learning and play in schools and early years settings. Guided by our mission and Six Principles, we support educators through training, resources, and funding, advocate for climate-ready school grounds, and deliver impactful projects that connect children with nature. From national programmes to local partnerships, everything we do is designed to create lasting change in how children experience the outdoors every day.

Our mission

We facilitate positive outdoor learning and play experiences by inspiring and enabling cultural change in schools and early years settings, and supporting the transformation of school grounds and outdoor spaces. We achieve our mission through three main avenues:

Development

We provide resources, training, and funding to help educators develop the skills and confidence to deliver curriculum-led outdoor learning and high-quality outdoor play at school.

Champion

We champion the importance of rich environments for outdoor learning and play while supporting the development of climate-ready school grounds through our advocacy and consultation work. 

Nurture

Through our projects like My School, My Planet, we nurture nature connection in children by providing valuable outdoor experiences to pupils who typically spend the least time in the natural world. 

Our history

1990

Learning through Landscapes was founded to implement the recommendations of ‘The Final Report’.

1995

Supported by NatureScot, Grounds for Learning opened its offices in Scotland, going on to become LtL Scotland in 2019.

2002

The Scottish School Grounds Research project commenced, leading to the School Grounds Literature Review and subsequent Scottish School Ground Survey in 2005, which helped to shape existing policy around outdoor learning and play in Scotland.

2004

The start of the ‘Supergrounds’ programme with funding from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which was a school grounds development programme for schools across the UK for six years.

2010

LtL hosted the first conference for what would go on to become the International School Grounds Alliance in 2011, becoming a founding member of the network for improving the way school grounds are designed, managed, resourced and used around the world.

2013

As a result of our groundbreaking work on play, the Scottish Government commissioned the Good School Playground Guide. A growing recognition for the importance of outdoor play also led us to launch our Playtime Revolution training course. Aimed at raising staff confidence and creating better breaktimes, it is still one of our most popular outdoor learning and play training courses.

2015

Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, we launched the award-winning Polli:Nation project, engaging 250 schools with learning about the importance of pollinators and transforming vast areas of school grounds into pollinator-friendly habitats.

2017

Supported by the People’s Postcode Lottery, we launched the very first phase of our Local School Nature Grants programme. In 2026, we will be celebrating 10 phases of delivery, having supported over 10% of Great British schools through the programme to date.

2020

Funded by an emergency grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, we launched the My School, My Planet project in response to the coronavirus crisis. The project sought to improve the outcomes of children and young people with the least access to nature, supporting their wellbeing, helping them to re-engage with their learning, and connecting them with their cultural and natural heritage.

2021

As part of the Scottish Government’s post-pandemic social recovery agenda, we delivered Better Breaktimes, Better Transitions in partnership with Play Scotland, with a key focus on promoting the wellbeing of children and young people in secondary schools.

2022

In the wake of the pandemic, as teachers recognised the importance of time spent outdoors but needed step-by-step advice on how to bring this together with the curriculum, LtL published Teaching the Primary Curriculum Outdoors. In the first week of publication, the book reached number one on three separate Amazon bestseller charts.

2023

LtL became the new guardians of Outdoor Classroom Day, the global campaign to celebrate outdoor learning and play. To date, over 12 million children around the world have taken part, equating to over 40 million extra hours spent outdoors during the school day.

2024

In response to requests for more support delivering climate change education, LtL launched the Climate School 180 project, reflecting the need to adapt to suit the changing needs of children, young people, and educators in our changing world.

Our principles

School grounds are the one outdoor space that all children have frequent access to. Therefore, we focus our efforts on educational settings because we believe that this is where children will derive the greatest benefit. We know that outdoor learning and play:

Outdoor Learning, Play And Connection With Nature Should Be Available And Accessible For Every Child And Young Person In Every School:

Outdoor learning, play and connection with nature is an essential part of education for all. We understand that many disadvantaged children are less likely to have access to this. Our work reduces inequality by ensuring access to well-designed school grounds for all, informed by the needs, ideas and aspirations of the children and young people who will use these spaces.

Outdoor Learning Should Be Fully Integrated Into A School’s Curriculum:

Blending subject-specific knowledge with context-specific experiences in the outdoor environment supports children and young people to acquire deeper meaning, increase motivation and support their wellbeing. Our programmes support educators to deliver high-quality outdoor learning.

All Children And Young People Should Have Access To High-Quality Outdoor Play:

Children and young people deserve and benefit from extended periods of play during every school day. These periods of play should be a protected part of every school day. Our programmes give children and young people opportunities to play in challenging, adventurous, and enriching environments that incorporate natural elements.

The Natural World Should Be At The Heart Of All School Grounds:

All school grounds should provide children and young people with enriching opportunities to connect with nature. Our programmes encourage them to appreciate the natural world, become stewards of the environment and protect the future health of their planet.

The Whole Of The School Grounds Should Be An Outdoor Classroom:

All outdoor elements, including tarmac, paving, brick walls and sand pits provide space and resources for learning alongside the natural world. The entire school grounds are an outdoor classroom and no limits should be set on what is used for teaching and learning outdoors.

School Grounds Should Be Designed For The Future And Made To Last:

Planned changes to school grounds should engage the whole school community, consider the entire site and the multiple ways it can be used. In our programmes we encourage educators to consider the long-term use, design and management of school grounds and underpin these decision with the United Nation’s Global Sustainable Development Goals.