Learning beyond the classroom: A nature inspired approach

This article has been published as part of the Rethinking Curriculum project, kindly funded by The Helen Hamlyn Trust.

Emma Vyvyan, Headteacher, Sky Primary and Eden Project Nursery, UK

Context

Sky Primary and Eden Project Nursery was part of the Department for Education’s Free School Programme and opened as part of Kernow Learning Trust from September 2022. We are a growing school, from Nursery to Year 6, adding a year group each year. From September 2024, we have Nursery to Year 2, with 90 children on roll. During spring 2025, we are due to move into our permanent school building, which is net carbon zero, with a large outdoor landscape. We have liaised with our children, families, Falmouth University architecture students and Mei Loci Landscape Architects to develop our biodiverse outdoor classroom. 

Rationale

Geographically, we are placed in an area of Cornwall where families experience multiple sources of deprivation, so our education offer combines aspirational experiences and preparation for adulthood. Our ‘Learning Beyond the Classroom’ vision encompasses a nature-inspired, sustainability- and climate-wise curriculum, incorporating real life, relevant learning experiences and developing connections with our local/global places and community. We are uniquely partnered with the Eden Project and work together to develop learning in, for and about nature. Our school journey encompasses a sense of belonging, with a focus on wellbeing while capturing the children’s curiosity and motivating them with exciting learning opportunities. 

As a school, we have a responsibility to ensure that our nature-inspired curriculum offers core subjects central to our learning, but also enables children to become empowered, solution-focused citizens for the future. We also aim to engage our families in changing habits, with a ‘small changes make a big difference’ approach collectively and collaboratively. The DfE’s (2023) climate change and sustainability strategy’s strategic aims have been considered in our planning specifically, building on a foundation of fundamental numeracy, literacy and broad academic knowledge:

‘Excellence in education and skills for a changing world: preparing all young people for a world impacted by climate change through learning and practical experiences… A better environment for future generations: enhancing biodiversity, improving air quality and increasing access to, and connection with, nature in and around education and care settings.’

Why implement a nature-inspired, sustainability- and climate-wise curriculum?

Climate change is possibly the single most important issue facing humanity (United Nations, 2024) and is widely understood to be threatening habitats, along with declining biodiversity (WWF, 2020; IPCC, 2022; UN, 2024). A recent Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change found that global warming is leading to irreversible destruction of many habitats, and that this will have serious adverse socioeconomic consequences for coming generations (Hoath and Dave, 2022).

We therefore strive to engage children in exceptional, purposeful learning and inspire them to make positive change for the future.

Our curriculum and pedagogical approach

As an overview, we aim to incorporate the Early Years framework and National Curriculum, encompassing the following:

• Know more and remember more 
• Curriculum sequencing: Supporting acquisition of knowledge​
• Immersive and experience: Build on what children know​; design learning, build connections​
• Creation of schemas: Interconnected networks of background knowledge.

Our values-based education recognises that all children are unique, and we are committed to the full inclusionAn approach where a school aims to ensure that all children are educated together, with support for those who require it to access the full curriculum and contribute to and participate in all aspects of school life of all children. Our approach incorporates access to a rich sensory environment (indoors and outdoors) with diverse opportunities. Our vision is that we have happy, healthy, successful learning with children having a deep understanding of what it means to live in harmony with their world and their role in achieving that. Our teaching and learning therefore incorporates:

• Stress reduction: Time outdoors can provide a natural outlet for relaxation and emotional release
• Physical activity: This can improve mood, boost self-esteem and enhance overall physical health
• Connection to the environment: This can foster a sense of belonging, purpose and interconnectedness
• Promotion of curiosity and exploration: This encourages and supports engagement at children’s own pace
• Opportunities for social interaction: These include collaborative learning opportunities
• Sense of achievement: This can be achieved through hands-on and meaningful activities, and experience of success.

We understand that the relationship between culture and climate is intricately connected, so we are empowered to positively influence habits, change and climate-wise knowledge. We have worked with Learning through Landscapes Climate 180 Schools Programme, The Harmony Project, Nature Premium Project and Climate Wise Schools Expert School Leadership Programme, to audit knowledge, skills and practice, build information networks and link with credible resources and organisations to train our staff in the development and delivery of our curriculum. Our unique partnership with the Eden Project also enables ongoing exploration of innovative learning and sharing expertise to bring learning alive, not least with regular access to the biomes and outer estate as an outdoor classroom. This enables staff to utilise interests in real-life world issues, encourages enthusiasm and enables a sustained focus, while celebrating successes e.g. a plastic-free packed lunches community ethos. Our aim is to achieve Plastic Free Schools Award accreditation with Surfers Against Sewage, and to make wider links with other schools to create a network of ideas and connections between children across education.

Key change elements are role-modelling and enabling everyone to take part in supporting climate change habits. Bandura’s social learning theory (1977) emphasises this, through imitating behaviours, attitudes, emotional investment and thinking of others. At Sky, we aim to model climate change habits through our everyday actions: our school ethos and values, sharing the passion for the outdoors, being curious and linking real life and relevant experiences wherever possible. 

Our curriculum develops specific sustainability links through the Good Life Goals (see Figure 1) – these are a ‘child speak’ version of the Sustainable Development Goals (comprising 17 goals) adopted by the United Nations (2015), connected to our enquiry of learning focus for every half-term. This culminates in a Great Works event – these are half-termly class-focused activities based on curriculum learning, celebrating and showcasing children’s learning to the school and wider community. Our families are all invited, including governors, and on many occasions extended family and friends come along too. This provides the children with an opportunity to share their learning and build confidence and pride in all aspects and helps them to remember too.

Figure 1: The Good Life Goals

Our impact goes beyond academic outcomes, through our ‘Ways of Being’ (see Figure 2). These develop key skills, attitudes and behaviours, while mitigating/adapting to climate consciousness. This ethos also mirrors British Values and creates thoughtful habits and attitudes.

Figure 2: Ways of Being

We keep to facts, causes and impacts and encourage children to engage in potential solutions: presenting impartial views; presenting respected facts rather than ideological bias (DfEDepartment for Education - a ministerial department responsible for children’s services and education in England, 2022); and avoiding ‘greenwashing’ – a claim to protect the environment but not having tangible environmental benefits (Álvarez-García and Sureda-Negre, 2023). 

We also engender a ‘construction of hope’ approach. We follow our Ways of Being as a community every day, but we are also committed to celebrating making a difference. This includes sharing the awe and wonder moments and sharing in our gratitude and next steps in staff meetings, ensuring that we are positively focused and are able to foster a solution-focused approach in action. 

As we grow as a school, we are aware of the challenges of scaling up our curriculum approach to the end of Key Stage 1 across Key Stage 2 and will need to consider any barriers that this entails, including clarity of curriculum coverage and access to local places, using transport and budget planning accordingly. This includes access to transport, so we may have half a class off-site learning while half are on-site learning and swap accordingly and appropriately, thereby utilising our school minibus effectively. We will also ensure that we protect curriculum time and continue to focus on embedding our ethos. 

Findings and implications

To enable us to check coverage, we are refining our knowledge, skills and understanding progression, mapped and linked to learning from Nursery to Year 6, providing coherence across year groups: clarity of learning goals, sequenced progression, depth of understanding (revisiting/reviewing learning), vertical alignment, consistency and equity, assessment and accountability. The added benefit is investment, understanding and engagement with staff, families and school improvement colleagues. Our thread of sustainability closely links with areas of climate-wise learning focus, through our School Values as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: School Values

We observe that our families are engaged, and we see articulate, interested, passionate children. Bey et al. (2020) state that a collective operational climate literacy becomes a community that synthesises information, makes alternative choices and advocates positive actions, thus demonstrating ongoing commitment towards a healthy environment. 

Constructive hope and small changes can make a big difference, forming the foundation of a coherent, robust curriculum – an accessible, inclusive and affordable school approach. Grissom et al. (2021) state that culture encompasses shared ethos, beliefs, values and expectations, which shape investment and actions. 

Our recent school survey illustrated a positive connection and engagement with our growing curriculum and community (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: School survey results

Each half-term, we also collate the children’s views about their learning and publish them as a class blog – this serves as an assessment checkpoint, oracy focus and learning journal to share with families. Here, children evidence their connected learning and understanding through their responses and articulation of specific vocabulary. Early indications suggest that our curriculum is successful; however, we are always reviewing, adapting and adjusting, according to children’s needs and learning focus.

Using other metrics, our whole-school attendance is above the national average at 97 per cent, and in our first phonics screening check children achieved 94 percent, indicating that they are competent beginner readers. We are yet to have a graded OfstedThe Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills – a non-ministerial department responsible for inspecting and regulating services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills inspection and haven’t yet experienced Year 4 multiplication checks or Year 6 SATs. Although we are in the early stages, we observe that our children are motivated and connected to their learning.

Recommendations 

Going forward, we will continue to develop collaborations with the Chartered College of Teaching, and our curriculum development work with Reach2 Academy Trust, The Harmony Project, Carbon Literacy Project, Natural History Museum and its integrated resources and Climate Adapted Pathways in Education. 

We also strive to develop school audit areas around energy, waste and growth, to demonstrate how our daily actions help to make small changes, and to connect to wider projects, making an even bigger difference.  

Our Eden Project partnership is also instrumental in developing curriculum connection, staff knowledge and subject progression, as we progress up to Key Stage 2 and continue our creative approach towards learning that is real-life, relevant and nature-inspired, with a focus on preparation for adulthood and the challenges ahead.

Top tips for other leaders

Be brave and make connections with other schools who are being creative, so that you can also push out the classroom walls and learn beyond the classroom.