Nature Friendly Schools (NFS) project is an exciting new £6.4m government funded research project. FSC is a partner in the project, along with The Wildlife Trusts, Young Minds, Groundwork and The Sensory Trust.
The project aims to improve understanding of the effectiveness of interventions (spending time) in nature on mental and physical health and wellbeing of children /young people.
We’re excited about the possibilities of NFS, working with partner’s who are leaders in their respective fields, encouraging more children and young people outside to connect with nature and focus on their wellbeing.
Sam Thurston (NFS Project Officer)
NFS aims to deliver to a total of 375 targeted schools over its three-year duration. The project schools will have the opportunity to take part in residential visits to participating FSC centres and day outreach at FSC locations. Some FSC education staff in participating centres will, after specific training, support teacher CPD training, mentor and support teachers to deliver their own nature-based teaching outdoors. With a focus on improving mental health and wellbeing. FSC will provide fold-out charts and online resources to support this work.
Learning and good practice from the project will be used to inform and develop FSC staff training in the future. For example, FSC delivery staff will receive a full days training with Young Minds on Academic Resilience, with a focus on wellbeing. This will be used to inform regional education training moving forward. FSC is providing resources and engagement to all participating schools, reaching new customers and raising awareness of FSC.
FSC NFS staff (Janine Maddison and Sam Thurston) will facilitate development within participating centres, delivering training, mentoring staff and providing resources to successfully deliver the project. The product development team will work hard to develop new products based on experience working on this flagship wellbeing project.
We’ll be using the Staff News website to update on project delivery and achievement over the next three years. Follow us on Twitter @FSC_NFS and@NatureFSchools and use the hashtag #NFS.
Fantastic high profile project Sam. Thanks for sharing and good luck in the role.