Our education work has an overall aim: to provide education for sustainable development through local action and global citizenship.

It draws upon 15 years of first hand experience in leading school workshops nationwide, growing our own community woodland and working with the rainforest people of Papua New Guinea - the source of our inspiration.

Our aim is accompanied by 3 objectives:

• To offer programmes to as diverse a range of people as possible
• To combine both inspirational and pragmatic elements in all our work
• To define education in life-long terms

We aspire to achieve our objectives in two ways:

• Firstly through the delivery of 4 separate programmes or "strands", using presenters who have combined skills in silviculture, education and the arts. These strands involve both children and adults.
• Secondly through offering inspiration, training and support to communities who invite us to work with them. This can involve people of any age.

Our work is a combination of 'hands clean' and 'hands dirty' activities.

Our education programmes have already had an impact on over 90,000 people.

OUR EDUCATIONAL "STRANDS"

Forest School - An inspirational outdoor learning opportunity.

We have established a Forest School training programme for the East of England. The essence of Forest School is to offer young people a relatively long-term woodland experience tapping into the human desire to explore the natural world. In order to best facilitate this we offer certificated training courses for adult practitioners at both OCN Level 1 and Level 3. We are involved in quality assurance discussions at national level and through partnership working endeavour to offer training of the highest possible quality. The students on our courses work with a range of young people including pre-school, pupils with learning difficulties and those who are disaffected.

 

Sustainable Past, Sustainable Future – A one day educational event for pupils and their teachers

SPSF is an environmental education activity which takes place at The Foundry, Green Light’s award winning carbon-neutral building. The pupils take part in structured learning activities which culminate in their creating a new design for sustainable housing. The aim of the day is to learn lessons from the past to inform life choices for the present and future. To help this process along the pupils meet actors working in role as characters from the past who bring history to life through their stories and props. The Foundry building itself is used as an educational resource as pupils learn about the features which create its carbon neutrality. This strand is appropriate for pupils aged from 7-18.

From Seed to Tree - A cycle of activities for schools involved in Community-owned Woodland projects.

This is a curriculum-linked programme of activities that takes place both inside and outside school buildings. It takes a pupil through a process; beginning with collecting and planting tree seeds to tending their seedlings, to planting out and managing their saplings in their community woodland.

Sensing the Rainforest - An interactive presentation for pupils with learning disabilities

This is a sensory workshop for children with Special Needs. We have considerable experience in this specialist area, specifically, in creating rainforest experiences for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties. Using visuals, sound, smell, taste and touch we take them on a journey into the magical forests of Papua New Guinea.

COMMUNITY TRAINING & SUPPORT

Community-owned Woodlands

In order to best facilitate communities being autonomous and sustainable, we offer training days to develop skills in key areas. In addition to this, there is an annual Networking Day where representatives from communities can meet to share good practice and learn from each other.

To support the From Seed to Tree programme we are developing a mentoring system for working alongside nominated volunteers called School Links who co-manage the programme in partnership with the local schoolteachers.

The whole ethos of our Community-owned Woodland scheme centres around an educative process whereby close links with Green Light Trust ensures appropriate short, medium and long-term support.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

We are also committed to professional development within our own team using both a well-established monitoring and evaluation system for user groups as well as regular training opportunities to develop our own practice.