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Commissioned in 2007, the project set about turning an underused and somewhat sterile courtyard space in a newly built school into a thriving and useable natural learning space.
Design work was carried out with year 4, 5 and 6 children to develop concepts and ideas for the outdoor space. The space needed to be a wild place where plants would grow and wildlife would inhabit, but the space also needed to encourage role play work and be a place for the children to create imaginary worlds.
he designs and ideas put forward by the children were amalgamated into a final proposal. This contained a pond, raised beds, mini beast hotels, along with many birdfeeders. A timber lookout post/ bird hide/ castle was also build from sustainable and reclaimed timber.
Locally coppiced hazel was also used to create screens and panels, allowing the children to rearrange the space. As with the scheme at Selston, children were fully involved in the making process, using spanners and ratchets to fix structures together. The space is now a thriving habitat and is used regularly to facilitate outdoor learning.
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