The results of a MORI Poll published this month reveals that 96% of teachers believe that schools should be using their outside spaces to enhance pupils’ education and development.
Transforming outside spaces requires relatively low budgets within the capital programme and can add huge value in terms of educational transformation. Just how this can be achieved will be the subject of a national conference on 23rd March bringing together landscape architects, architects, local authorities, school leadership teams and all those involved in school capital programmes.
Keynote speakers at the event will include Tim Byles, the Chief Executive of Partnership for Schools; Jonathon Porritt the Founder/Director, Forum for the Future; Richard Simmons, the Chief Executive of CABE and Robin Hammerton, OFSTED.
Tim Byles, the Chief Executive of Partnership for Schools and keynote spokesperson at the event comments, “Well-designed outdoor spaces can help transform a school into something extraordinary. There’s a lot of talk about how we now treat our gardens as outdoor rooms, and we are seeing this come through in school designs too. Landscape design is not an afterthought in Building Schools for the Future; the landscape architect is a key member of the design team who will draw on their experience and insight into how the whole site can offer learning opportunities.”
He adds: “In BSF schools across the country we are seeing the creation of outdoor zones for everything from learning and socialising, to understanding nature and sustainability, with plans to use this space for activities as diverse as poetry reading and yoga, to geography, science experiments and learning how to grow vegetables.”
For further information on the conference or to make a booking visit www.ltl.org.uk