As this newsletter is produced by the Health, Education and Natural Resources team we thought it was about time that we embrace our inner health and rebrand.  From this point forward, this newsletter will be known as the ‘Education, Learning and Health’ newsletter!  “Natural resources provide our basic needs: the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat.  They give us energy, prosperity, and security, and provide us with places and spaces for physical activity and relaxation”, says Steve Meaden, Lead Specialist Advisor: Health & Well-being.  “Evidence shows that we can boost our health and well-being through connecting with nature.  We want to see nature and people thriving together as we know if we look after nature, we look after ourselves, so being able to share our healthy news and messages through the newsletter will be great.”

Will you and your setting be taking a whole setting approach to outdoor learning this Wales Outdoor Learning Week?  Natural Resources Wales and the Wales Council for Outdoor Learning invite you to celebrate Wales’ biggest and best playing and learning space – our natural environment during #WalesOutdoorLearningWeek, 24^th – 30^th April 2023.  The theme this year is active learning in the outdoors - encouraging healthy confident individuals.  To ensure all your learners reap the benefits of learning in, about and for the biggest and best classroom we have in Wales; our natural environment, here’s some top tips on how to get your whole setting on board.

Young People in European Forests (YPEF) is a Europe wide competition for young people aged 15–18.  The competition aims to encourage Future Foresters to showcase their passion for their country’s trees and woodlands by creating a media project which showcases their knowledge and understanding.  Teams of three are invited to submit a project in any format for example, an extended essay, fact file, PowerPoint, or video on this year’s theme ‘Our favourite forest’.  Winning teams will be invited to a presentation and a guided tour of a world class forestry site within their nation. The overall UK winner will also have their entry shared on the RFS website and with YPEF contributors across Europe.  Team members will receive individual certificates and there will be a certificate for the winning school to display.  Entries should be submitted by the 31st of May 2023.  Further information and terms and conditions are available on the Young People in European Forests webpage.

The Healthy and Sustainable Preschool scheme is a national accreditation scheme which acknowledges pre-school settings as contributors to children’s health and well-being.  The scheme covers a range of seven health topics including the environment. How does the scheme help develop an early connection to nature?   We spoke to Emma Coleman, Cardiff Healthy and Sustainable Preschool Officer to find out.

Tune into the natural environment’s potential to promote health and learning with our online CPD webinars this spring.  To book your place on any of the below webinars or for further information please visit our Tocyn Cymru webpage.

Wales Coast Path – Your route to coastal learning Wednesday 26.04.23 (English), Thursday 27.04.23 (Welsh) at 4.15 pm – 5.45 pm

Sand dunes Wednesday 10.5.23 (English), Thursday 11.05.23 (Welsh) at 4.15 pm – 5.45 pm

Face to face training available for Flintshire based teachers.  We are in the process of developing 2 new free, face to face training sessions in partnership with Flintshire LEA and STEM Learning UK for Flintshire based teachers.  Once developed, we hope to run these courses elsewhere in Wales.

To protect or develop Flintshire’s rural ‘cynefin'?  That is the question!  With the Curriculum for Wales as a guide, participants will consider the merits/drawbacks of a planning application through the 6 areas of learning and experience.  £165 bursary available - for further information and to book your place please click here.

Using the Curriculum for Wales as a tool to showcase Flintshire's coastline  This session will give participants 101 ideas to get their learners learning in, about and for Flintshire's coastline. Participants will spend the day taking part in a range of hands-on, cross-curricular activities in the natural environment, learning about Flintshire's coastline through the lenses of the 6 areas of learning and experience.  £165 bursary available - for further information and to book your place please click here.

Visit Wales is inviting visitors and the people of Wales to be a trail taker and curate their own epic trails in Wales during 2023.  From coast to common, a gentle amble to a purposeful pilgrimage, where will you and your learners trail to in 2023?  Whether it be by bike, foot, horse or even canoe, hitting the trail gives you and your learners a great excuse to explore and experience some of Wales’ spectacular natural environment.  If you are feeling energetic, why not head out and complete a section of the 870 mile long Wales Coast Path with your learners?  How long do they think it would take them to walk the entire Path?  Why not challenge your learners to research, plan and organise a day visit to complete a section of the Wales Coast Path?  From considering the logistics to writing an itinerary we’ve got a range of resources on our webpage to support you and your learners to hit the trail this year.  Don’t forget, wherever the trail takes you, encourage your learners to behave responsibly and follow the Countryside Code Wales. 

Invasive non-native species (INNS) are any non-native animal or plant that can spread and subsequently cause damage to the environment, the economy, our health, and the way we live.  The rate at which new INNS are establishing in Wales has increased exponentially in the last 50 years.  After habitat loss, INNS are one of the prime contributors to extinction.  They raise big ethical questions, and practical challenges for our ecosystems as we face a climate and nature emergency in Wales.    Should we admit defeat and accept the survival of the fittest?  Or should we focus on prevention and early intervention to stop invasive non-native species from endangering biodiversity and improve the resilience of ecosystems so that they are better able to adapt.  A lot of learners will know that cute giant pandas and polar bears are facing extinctions on the other side of the globe but how many of them are aware that species such as the not-so-cute, white-clawed crayfish or freshwater pearl mussel are facing extinction in our Welsh rivers?  What do your learners think?   Why not set up a debate.  Further information on the plight to save the critically endangered pearl mussel and work to restore essential habitat in a North Walien river is shared in a newly released video.

Nature gives us everything we need to thrive, but it needs our help.  On the 25th March at 8:30 pm, encourage your learners to join hundreds of millions of people from around the planet and take part in the World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour and spend 60 minutes doing something positive for our planet.  Whether they switch off the lights, play a boardgame with their family by candlelight or switch their phone to ‘do not disturb’, anyone, anywhere can join the #BiggestHourForEarth.  For more ideas check out the Earth Hour support for education settings webpage.  But it doesn’t have to stop there, there are lots of small changes we can all make to help address the nature and climate emergencies that threaten our future.  To encourage your learners to discuss and consider what changes they can make to their lifestyles why not check out the resources on our webpage.

Wales is leading the world and has been commended at the United Nations for our unique Well-being of Future Generations Act (2015) which protects the interests of our children and future generations.  Changemakers from across Wales are making the vision of the Well-being of Future Generations Act a reality and are directly contributing to the well-being of Wales.  Congratulations to Mrs James, staff and pupils at Radnor Primary School, Cardiff, Mr Evans, staff and pupils at Ysgol Bro Banw, Rhydaman and Ionwen Spowage, staff and pupils at Ysgol Bro Dinefwr, Llandeilo for being named on Wales’s first Future Generations Commissioner list of changemakers!  

Ask your learners to become seasoned investigators by turning your grounds into a science lab and contribute data to help scientists monitor the effects of weather and climate change on wildlife.  The Woodland Trust’s Nature’s Calendar is a phenology database containing nearly three million records dating back to 1736. Phenology is the study of seasonal changes in plants and animals from year to year, such as the flowering of plants, emergence of insects and migration of birds. Nature’s Calendar citizen scientists record the dates of particular events which happen to certain species during the changing seasons and record them on the website. If repeated every year comparisons can be made, and a data bank built up, to use for further maths and numeracy projects.

Would you like regular outdoor learning updates and news?  Why not follow the Outdoor Learning Wales Twitter account or join the closed Facebook Group which both offer a platform to keep up to date, spread the word of ongoing projects and facilitate discussions with anyone with an interest in outdoor learning and environmental education in Wales.

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