Green Lane Outdoor Community Space

Aim

Let's get our children learning outside!

Green Lane Primary and Nursery school has 420 pupils on the outskirts of London.

We want to build an outdoor classroom so our children can spend time being active and outside, whatever the weather.

One of our key aims over the next 2 years is to increase the amount of outside learning time for the children. We want to encourage the children to be more active and closer to nature by including outdoor learning in their weekly timetable. We recognise that some children learn better in a non-classroom environment and that many children have little access to outdoor space when they're not at school.

The benefits of outdoor learning are widely recognised across publications and research papers*: 

• Test scores, attitude about school, attendance and behaviour all improve when students learn in and about nature
• Stress levels of students and teachers decrease as do symptoms of ADHD
• Enhances the sense of community in the school. A shared learning space brings together children across the years.

So what are we actually trying to do?

We want to build an outdoor classroom which will be used to:

• Offer timetabled outdoor learning time to all children, every week, regardless of weather
• Teach the children about plants by being closer to nature
• Offer new sports clubs that we don’t currently have the space for. We have wonderful ideas, but no space!
• Give a dry, accessible space to support the wider community events that the school hosts – including an annual fireworks display, Christmas market and Summer Fair.

 It is going to be a beautiful structure that the children will benefit from for years to come

And how much will this cost?

Our outdoor classroom will cost £8000. 

How can you help?

We need your donations to help us fund all of this. Every single piece of woodchip, wooden panel and sleeper bench needs to be paid for. We really need your help donating what you can and sharing this page with friends, family and local businesses. 

Rewards!

We would like to offer you a reward in return because it makes this process more fun. Have a look at the Rewards section for full details.

Corporate Rewards

We are installing a large acrylic Sponsor Panel in the school. The panel will measure 90cm x 120cm and will contain the logos of all the sponsors who help us bring our project to life. Each square costs £25 and is 9cm x 9cm. You can donate £25 for a single square, or if you would like to donate enough to claim multiple squares, you can click through the reward on the right then update the 'quantity' box to the number you wish to pay for. As soon as we receive your donation we will be in touch for you to select the squares you would like to use (based on what is still available).

More information about the logo panel can be viewed in this PDF, and you can see which squares are still available here.

*Evidence

The following are examples of the many publications which highlight the connection between outdoor learning and children's wellbeing:

• UCL Institute of Education: Children and Nature 
• English Outdoor Council: Time for Change in Outdoor Learning
• Every Child Outdoors: Children Need Nature. Nature Needs Children

Thank you for taking the time to read about our project! Please share this page as far and wide as you can to help us achieve our goals!

This project successfully funded on 7th February 2020