Inspire wonder in nature on Outdoor Classroom Day
On Outdoor Classroom Day, our CEO, Carley Sefton, reflects on the importance of storytelling for inspiring a connection with the natural world.
In my teens, I often dreamed of swimming alongside something as magnificent and enormous as a blue whale.
This week, those childhood dreams of the ocean were reawakened when I had the honour of attending the Future Generations’ premiere of Ocean with Sir David Attenborough, thanks to our amazing friends and funders at the People’s Postcode Lottery. Watching the film, I went through every emotion — from awe and wonder to anger and despair at what we are doing to our oceans. As a call to action, however, it made me more determined than ever to do something to protect our amazing oceans!
Finding a connection with nature
I love the sea. It is Mother Nature’s womb. Swimming in it fills me with a spiritual calm I find nowhere else. But I believe we all have our own ‘corner’ of nature that connects with us on a deeper level. For one of my sons, it’s woodland. For one of my colleagues here at Learning through Landscapes, it’s mountains.
That’s why it’s so important that children are given as many opportunities as possible to discover where their passion lies. Ideally, these would be real-life experiences, but they don’t have to be. As a little girl, I had never seen a vast ocean, but that didn’t stop my imagination from taking me there. Looking up at the posters of whales on my bedroom wall, it didn’t stop me from developing a passion for protecting nature either.
The power of storytelling
This is why Sir David’s work is so important. For generations, he has connected us to places and creatures we may never see. Whether it’s cheering on a lizard as it escapes a swarm of snakes or watching a tiny spider perform a mating dance that would put most pop stars to shame, the magic of what he does is in making us care about things we didn’t even know existed.
Sir David joined the board of Learning through Landscapes the day we were founded over 35 years ago. He remained an active board member until TV commitments took over, and he then became our Patron. I feel incredibly privileged that he believed in our mission enough to stay involved for all these years.
Inspire wonder this Outdoor Classroom Day
I hope that Sir David’s passion for connecting people to the planet has rubbed off on all of us at Learning through Landscapes, because that is our duty as educators — to create those moments of awe and wonder that ignite a passion in the children we work with, so they care enough to strive for change. After all, in the words of Sir David:
If children don’t grow up knowing about nature and appreciating it, they will not understand it. If they don’t understand it, they won’t protect it. And if they don’t protect it, who will?
For many pupils, time in the school grounds comprises the majority of their time spent outdoors, which is why it’s important to ensure they get as much as possible! So this Outdoor Classroom Day, which also marks Sir David’s 99th birthday, I ask you to do three things:
- Share with your class a short clip from one of Sir David’s many remarkable films.
- Tell your class a childhood memory of what first made you care about nature.
- Go outside and have all the fun!
Take the next step to develop climate education at your school
The final application round for our fully-funded Climate School 180 project is open until the end of this week! The project supports partner schools to consider sustainability and climate action across the whole school, empowering staff and fostering pupils’ constructive hope around climate change. In addition, teachers will become more confident in discussing environmental issues, helping with development of a meaningful climate change curriculum.
The freedom to talk about climate change with colleagues […] has given us a clearer rationale around including climate change in the curriculum.
In England, taking part in the project offers valuable scaffolding for the development of a climate action plan; the Department for Education requires that “by 2025, all education settings will have nominated a sustainability lead and put in place a climate action plan.” Don’t miss out on this opportunity to embed climate action into the curriculum — apply for Climate School 180 now.
