Ilsham Church of England Academy, which is part of the Learning Academy Partnership (LAP), has been awarded the Local School Nature Grant.
The grant will enable the school to purchase the pupils a range of exciting new equipment including a Get Growing Kit, a Woodland Activity Kit, a Grow to Cook Kit, a Solar Light Kit and a set of microscopes.
The new equipment will be used to develop the children’s understanding of sustainability and enhance the academy’s science curriculum. The pupils also played an important role in applying for the grant and in selecting the equipment that they felt would be best for their peers.
For the application, the academy demonstrated its passion for developing its environmental and sustainability practices in order to benefit its pupils, staff and local community. Illsham has a range of environment-focused initiatives, that have inspired a love of the outdoors within their pupils.
As part of the grant programme, the staff at the academy will also be receiving further outdoor learning training to support them in providing more opportunities for learning outside.
The project is run by Learning through Landscapes, a charity that is dedicated to helping schools facilitate more unique ways to incorporate nature into their learning.
The children at the academy are very excited to receive their new equipment and get stuck into some fun outdoor learning activities.
Lars, a pupil at the academy said: “We are really excited to help our environment.”
Noah, a pupil at the academy said: “It will be amazing to have all of the new equipment so that we can do more learning outside.”
Jake Grinsill, Interim Head of Ilsham Church of England Academy said: “This grant has given our academy a wonderful opportunity to further enhance our outdoor learning provision. It will be great to see the children enjoying being more active, connecting with nature and engaging with their learning outdoors.”
The project is run by Learning through Landscapes and funded by the People’s Postcode Lottery, Postcode Neighbourhood Trust, Postcode Places Trust, Postcode Society Trust, Postcode Local Trust or Postcode Community Trust all of whom receive funding from players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
