Earthwatch Education
As School Closes, Let’s Rethink Staff and Student Wellbeing 🍓🌱🌻
As schools close for the summer, we want to take a moment to recognise something too often pushed aside: the well-being of school staff. Across the UK, staff burnout, anxiety, and exhaustion are at an all-time high. According to Sec-Ed,
45% of school staff report experiencing anxiety,
35% burnout,
and 28% symptoms of depression.
Behind these numbers are real people – teachers who are struggling to keep going while supporting the mental health of young people.
The truth is this: exhausted staff cannot support flourishing students.
Yet there is hope — and it doesn’t always come from more policies or hours in front of screens.
The Healing Power of Nature
Nature offers one of the most accessible, evidence-based, and nourishing paths to recovery. Time in the woods. Quiet connection. Movement, creativity, and community. These are not luxuries — they’re essentials.
At Circle of Life Rediscovery, they have worked with schools across the UK to design nature-based programmes and trainings that radically shift the wellbeing of both staff and students.
✔️ From CPD outdoor learning and nature connection courses to comprehensive Level 3 Forest School Training, learn everything you need to know about transforming education, health and family through nature-led learning
✔️ Develop the knowledge, skills and confidence you need to design and deliver best practice educational and therapeutic outdoor learning programmes
✔️ Use your new skills to have more fun in your work, and transform your career
Who are outdoor learning CPD courses for?
These outdoor learning CPD courses are suitable for:
Teachers
Health workers
Outdoor practitioners
Who are the outdoor learning CPD course tutors?
All Circle of Life Rediscovery tutors have a background in education and sustainable schools. Also, knowledge and experience of nature connection, nature-centric models, the curriculum and the natural world
Why learn with Circle of Life Rediscovery?
They show you how you can teach outdoor experiences that connect individuals with nature and the wider community.
Better still, you’ll learn practical and theoretical nature-based practice tools you can tie into the national curriculum or use to meet key health outcomes.
As a result, your students will:
Appreciate their beautiful surroundings and understanding their place in nature and the world
Learn social responsibility
Explore our outdoor learning CPD courses for teachers, health practitioners and outdoor practitioners here!
Upcoming Learning Lunch with Our Shared World and Professor Stephen Sterling 📖🖊️🥪
Upcoming Learning Lunch with Our Shared World and Professor Stephen Sterling
Date: July 22nd 2025, 13:15 – 13:45 GMT.
Our Shared World are excited to bring you the latest Learning Lunch, coming from Professor Stephen Sterling.
Professor Stephen Sterling is an Emeritus Professor of Sustainability at the University of Plymouth, President of SEEd and the foremost mind in Education for Sustainable Development. Having worked in environmental and sustainability education for 50 years, he has received numerous accolades, awards and achievements for his work.
With too long a list of accolades and achievements to mention here (find out more on his website here), this is an exciting opportunity to explore his insights into education for sustainability in the next Learning Lunch.
Structure:
13:15 - 13:30pm: Welcome and Presentation
13:30 - 13:45pm: Questions and Discussion
Get involved with this exclusive Learning Lunch with one of the top thought leaders in this wonderful field!
Before you sign off for summer, sign up for this Autumn 2025 webinar for your students - What's in your water? LIVE!! 💧🌍💻
What's in your water? Live is an engaging, curriculum-linked live lesson for KS2 pupils that brings science and geography to life through real-world action. Developed by Earthwatch Europe, this interactive session immerses young learners in the world of fresh water, environmental threats, and the Great UK WaterBlitz a UK-wide citizen science project.
Aligned with national curriculum and timed to support World Monitoring Day (18 Sept) and Great UK WaterBlitz Week (19th–22 Sept) this session empowers pupils to become scientists for a day — and environmental champions for life.
If you live near a fresh water source why not consider getting your class involved in the autumn 2025 WaterBlitz - sign up here: Great UK WaterBlitz -Org signup - Earthwatch Europe
Find out more by clicking the link below 👇
Why Cities Need a Wild Side 🌇🌼
Ever feel like your city needs a bit more life? Check out this refreshing blog post by Earthwatch: "A Case for Urban Nature" – a passionate call to bring more green into our grey spaces.🌳🐝
From pocket parks to buzzing bee hotels, urban nature isn’t just nice to look at—it boosts our health, biodiversity, and even community spirit 💚✨. If you're curious about how cities can be both people-friendly and nature-rich, this one's for you.
Let’s rewild our cities, one planter box at a time! 🌱🏙️
Read it here: https://earthwatch.org.uk/blog/a-case-for-urban-nature/
Count pollinators with your pupils for Bees' Needs Week from 14 July!
With Bees’ Needs Week around the corner (14th July), now is the perfect time to do a Pollinator Count with your students!
Bees' Needs Week is an annual event run by Defra, working with a range of organisations including conservation groups, businesses and charities.
The aim of the week is:
to raise awareness of the importance of bees and other pollinators
share ideas, actions and activities that highlight the ways in which everyone can help them thrive
Use the 'Pollinator Count' activity from the National Education Nature Park to promote learning about pollinators and flowering plants, support an important citizen science project, and even make improvements to your site!
This is a timed count of insects that visit the flowers in your outdoor spaces. The data will show you how many and what types of insects are visiting your site to forage for food (with some pollinating the flowers when they visit), and which types of plants are most supportive to different insect groups. Your learners can use this information to identify where and what improvements they can make to the site, and use the information to research and tell stories about the insect antics at your setting.
Together, the data collected by you and others will show how educational settings support wildlife. At the Natural History Museum, researcher Dr Victoria Burton will analyse this information to assess the health of pollinators across the Nature Park and to explore which habitats and flowers best support pollinators. For more about the science behind the Pollinator Count, visit this blog post.
There is no need for prior insect or plant identification experience and the activity is specifically designed for young people, so its perfect to get involved!
Here is the link to the activity!
Join the Climate Action Countdown! ⏰🌍🌳
Join thousands of schools across the UK for a week of climate action, creativity and community! Monday 23 – Friday 27 June 2025
Free resources when you sign up
The Climate Action Countdown is a free, flexible week of curriculum-friendly climate lessons designed to help schools take simple, powerful steps towards a zero carbon future.
What’s included in your FREE resource pack?
A step-by-step teacher guide to running a climate assembly
A pick-and-mix menu of fun, impactful climate actions
Tailored resources for primary and secondary settings
Printable posters, templates and manifestos
Inspiration to involve your whole school community – from pupils to parents and PTAs
Why take part?
End the term with fun and purposeful activities
Behaviour-change lessons that could help cut your school’s cost!
Bring climate action into the curriculum in a creative, engaging way
Be part of a nationwide schools movement making real impact
Connect your work to London Climate Action Week
Show that schools are leading the way to a zero carbon future
Find out more and sign up here!
Photo credits: UK Climate Change • Let's Go Zero
Upcoming Learning Lunch with Our Shared World and Archway School, Stroud! 🌍🐝🖊️
Upcoming Learning Lunch with Our Shared World and Archway School, Stroud! 🌍🐝🖊️
Date: June 24th 2025, 13:15 – 13:45 GMT.
Our Shared World are excited to bring you the latest Learning Lunch, coming from Archway School in Stroud, Gloucestershire.
Kieron Smith (Headteacher) and James Hayes (Young Changemakers Lead Facilitator) at Archway, will be giving us insights into the implementation of sustainability education around an already packed curriculum. The talk will explore this from the point of view of a school and teachers – those on the frontlines of sustainability education.
What is a Learning Lunch?
Each month, a Learning Lunch is held where OSW members, friends and organisations can connect, share their work and engage in discussion and debate around the themes introduced.
Bite sized, participatory and supportive, the Lunches welcome a very broad range of speakers, engaging in all types of education and changemaking. They aim to celebrate, connect and amplify the cutting edge work being done to foster a more just, equitable, peaceful and sustainable world.
Learn more and sign up here!
FREE Let's Go Zero Carbon Literacy Training! 📖💪
Register now for free online training for sustainability leads to become carbon literate, available to all UK schools and multi-academy trusts when you register with Let’s Go Zero and are not speaking to a Climate Action Advisor.
We’ve created a brand new course ideal for sustainability leads and other staff members looking to boost their skills and knowledge in climate change, carbon emissions and more.
Following the success of their first Carbon Literacy training, Let's Go Zero are excited to launch a second course starting 10 June!
This free training programme is designed to support school staff in understanding climate change and carbon emissions - and it can help your school meet the government requirement of developing a Climate Action Plan.
The course will focus on key topics like recycling, pollution, climate change and how to inspire the next generation to take action on environmental issues.
The free online course, accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project, starts on 10 June 2025 and is delivered as four two-hour sessions every week, for a total of eight hours. To ensure that everyone gets the most out of this training, attendance at all four sessions is required.
"This was a really interesting, engaging and highly valuable course! I have gone from trying to ensure DfE compliance to actually feeling inspired to engage our school community and make a meaningful difference.”
- Conny Brandt, Peterhouse School
Who can sign up?
your UK school or trust must already be registered with Let’s Go Zero (register here)
you are not currently speaking to one of our Climate Action Advisors
your sustainability lead or staff member can commit to attending each of the four training sessions
you don’t need any prior training or knowledge of carbon emissions – the training is ideal for beginners
Places are limited - secure yours today and take the next step toward a zero carbon future for your school.
Sign up to Zero Carbon Schools! 🌍🌳📚
Sign up to Zero Carbon Schools - a comprehensive programme of climate education and pupil-powered climate action
Green Schools Project helps schools transform how they respond to the climate crisis.
They do this through Zero Carbon Schools, a comprehensive package of resources, training, and support created by teachers, for teachers. The award-winning programme provides a wealth of resources, including two teacher-training sessions to equip staff with the confidence and knowledge to bring climate and nature into learning.
Zero Carbon Schools includes links across the curriculum including science, maths, geography, English, and PSHE. As such, the primary school programme is designed to be delivered in curriculum time, while the secondary school programme provides a perfect framework for an Eco Team.
The programme enables pupils to be active participants. Using a school-specific carbon calculator, schools will be supported to estimate their carbon footprint, providing meaningful context for the projects that the pupils design and lead to take action on climate change. Through these hands-on projects, pupils learn essential skills such as teamwork, communication, and leadership.
The programme comes highly recommended - here are a few highlights from Green Schools Project’s most recent Impact Report:
● 115 schools and 4,677 pupils across the UK took part in our Zero Carbon Schools programme last year.
● 98% of teachers and 90% of pupils would recommend the programme to others.
● 95% of teachers agree that their pupils feel more positive about their role in tackling climate change as a result of Zero Carbon Schools.
● 95% of teachers said that Zero Carbon Schools had influenced their school’s response to climate change.
● Schools reduced their carbon emissions by an average of 27 tonnes where we have year-on-year data.
Is your school interested in taking part?
Sign up now for Zero Carbon Schools 2025-26 to equip your students and staff with the knowledge and skills they need to become catalysts for change, both now and in the future.
Observe, count, and contribute to science with the Tiny Forest Wildlife Count! 🦋🐛🐜🐝🐞
The Tiny Forest Wildlife Count is nearly here, taking place from 17 May to 1 June. This is your chance to visit a local Tiny Forest, observe, and record the bees, butterflies, and bugs thriving in our 290+ Tiny Forests across the UK.
Take part in this citizen science event! Your participation will help us better understand how Tiny Forests support urban wildlife and communities. Whether you join with colleagues, friends, family, or on your own, every observation counts.
Taking part is easy, all you need to do is:
Select your Tiny Forest – using our map below, pick where you will do the Wildlife Count
Sign up – receive your free Survey Pack by email
Plan your Wildlife Count – prepare for your Count with our checklist in the pack
Enjoy – count bugs, pollinators, and butterflies at your Tiny Forest during 17 May – 1 June
Submit your results online – help support Britain’s urban wildlife
Your free Survey Pack will include tips on planning for your Wildlife Count, instructions on how to undertake the surveys, wildlife identification guides, and fun activities for all the family.
Get outdoors, connect with nature, boost your wellbeing, and be a science superhero! Let’s show the power of citizen science by getting involved together.