Inspirational projects that bring students closer to nature.
For a chance to win £1,000 or £200, Let’s Go Zero schools told us how they would use that money to bring their students closer to nature.
Winning projects involved tree planting, vegetable growing and boosting wildlife in school grounds. Our judges looked for creative and engaging ideas with the power to inspire young people and the school community, with a focus on including less advantaged groups in underserved areas.
The competition, funded by OVO Foundation, offers 25 chances to win: 10 prizes of £1000 and 15 prizes of £200.
This year’s winning projects focus on keys areas schools can cut carbon effectively:
Nature, Food, Green Skills, Adaptation and Resilience, Waste and Culture.
Find out more about key areas that schools can take action on here.
The Planting and Crafting Days Project
Blackfield Primary School are on a mission to increase nature access for their students and instil them with a sense of environmental responsibility. With the prize money, they are creating a pollinator garden and mini forest area, complete with wildlife homes and shelters. The wider school community will be invited in for a series of planting and crafting days, where they will build bird houses, bug hotels and hedgehog shelters from scratch.
The Wildflower and Orchard Project
After trialling outdoor learning, Bugle School noticed a huge jump in levels of motivation amongst the students. To nurture their students’ enthusiasm for nature, and teach valuable conservation skills, they are developing areas around the school site to increase biodiversity. With the prize money, they are creating a series of pollinator pockets, a wild meadow surrounded by living fences, and a fruiting tree orchard.
The Rooftop Nature Oasis
With no onsite green space, only a single Tarmacked playground, Chestnut Park Primary School will transform a rooftop area into a nature oasis. The area will include a covered outdoor classroom, planters for food production and wildlife habitats, bug and bee hotels, reading pods and weather stations. The prize money will be combined with funding from other grants to create this multi-functional green space that the school hopes will inspire other inner-city schools to be creative with the space they have.
The Sustainable Outdoor Classroom
After attending a local sustainability conference, school council representatives at Bridgewater Primary School focused on boosting biodiversity and creating an official outdoor learning space. Their prize money will go towards an eco-friendly outdoor classroom, built from second-hand and sustainable materials as well as some native plants for their pond.
The Wildlife Hideaway Homes
Horticulture students at Selkirk High School have big plans to transform a disused area into a flourishing wildlife garden and nature observation area. Not only will it be an engaging learning space for students, but the bird houses, bat boxes and insect hotels installed will give a real boost to local wildlife.
The Rain and Carbon Capture Project
As part of a student-led environmental audit at Kelvin Grove Primary School, school council members are turning a disused part of the school campus into a thriving nature pond and self-sustaining green wall. They are already working with Froglife to create the pond and will use the prize money to buy climbing plants for the living wall and underwater plants for the pond itself.
The Inner-City Wildflower Meadow
Located close to Birmingham city centre and lacking in green space, Manor Park Primary Academy is creating a wildflower meadow at the entrance to their school. Students want to include signs, educating the wider community on the importance of meadows and wildflowers, and encouraging them to consider their actions and the impact they have on the natural world.
The ‘Nature Caught on Camera’ Project
Students at Ebbw Vale Learning Community want to create a range of habitats across their school grounds and will use their prize money to install bird nest boxes and hedgehog hotels complete with cameras. Footage from the cameras will be used in classes across the curriculum, and students will learn practical DT and IT skills while constructing the animal shelters.
The Reclaiming Unused Space Project
Newlands Primary Academy is transforming a disused space into a calm, nature filled area for their SEND students, particularly those who find mainstream classrooms difficult. Students will take charge of designing and monitoring the space, choosing planting that encourages plenty of visiting wildlife.
The Biodiversity Boosting Perimeter
Students in St Andrew’s CofE Primary School’s gardening club are creating spaces around the site planted with a wide range of plants that reflect the diversity of the school community, all while boosting biodiversity. They will turn their grey, unused perimeter fences into wildlife havens, planted with a rich mix of seeds and bulbs.
The Bird Box Project
A group of students from Dudley College’s Learning Difficulties and Disabilities group are eager to boost onsite wildlife and increase opportunities for engagement with nature. With the prize money, they will install a range of bat, swift and owl boxes around the campus.
The Nature Connection Garden
After a student requested “somewhere quiet to listen to the birds” in a school survey, staff at Scholes Village Primary School have begun work on a sensory garden. The prize money will go towards bee-friendly sensory plants, selected by members of the school gardening club.
The ‘Community Fridge’ garden
Students at Co-op Academy Stoke-on-Trent are launching a ‘Grow to Give’ initiative with their prize money. They will transform unused areas of their school grounds into vegetable and herb gardens to supply their free termly community meals and their community fridge.
The Self-Sustaining Seed-Sale Garden
After successfully creating a small herb garden on their site, students at Elfed High School are on a mission to expand what they grow. With the prize money, they will create raised beds to supply their own fresh fruit and veg. Every student will use the garden in weekly lessons, and, once up and running, students will create food boxes to distribute to local elderly residents. They even have plans to run a monthly plant sale using seeds from plants growing onsite – to fund the garden’s running costs.
The Food and Pollinators Project
To help families access fresh produce and reduce food insecurity, St Elizabeth Catholic Primary School is creating a dedicated food growing area for the whole school community. Alongside food growing, students are eager for the garden to be a home for wildlife, and are installing insect hotels, bird feeders and native plant zones to boost the biodiversity. To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the role they play in our eco-system, and why they need conserving, students will install educational signage around the garden.
The Horticulture Careers Garden
Stanton Vale Special School will empower each of their students with the skills and knowledge for a life beyond school. Learning how to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh and seasonal food is a key part of this, and the prize money and will be used to set up a sustainable kitchen garden. Every aspect of the project has been linked to the curriculum and post-16 accreditation opportunities, giving all students the opportunity to learn a host of practical and essential life skills.
The Living Laboratory Pond
Parsons Heath Primary School are creating an interactive, hands-on living laboratory where students can engage in environmental science and develop an appreciation and understanding of nature. With the prize money, they’ll construct a pond, complete with native vegetation and bog plants. They will also put some money towards pond dipping equipment and educational signage, creating unique learning opportunities outside the traditional classroom setting.
The Hands-on Allotment
As a specialist school, Park Community Academy are dedicated to teaching students essential life skills and instilling an understanding and appreciation of nature. Their prize money will go towards their allotment, a space for experiential learning and engagement with the wider community.
The Green Skills Garden
Staff at Pupil Referral Unit Avenue Centre for Education not only want to raise students’ awareness of environmental issues but also give them the skills they need to pursue an environmental career. They will use the prize money to buy tools and equipment for food growing, as well as a family planting event where students can share their newly learnt skills with family.
To deal with problems of surface water flooding, Coten End Primary School will transform their outdoor Tarmac and grass area into a rain garden. With the prize money, they will plant diverse pollinator and wildlife-friendly plants and trees to help absorb the water as well as boost onsite biodiversity. Students from across the school, including SEND students, will be in charge of maintaining the garden and have already sought the advice of local environmental groups to find the best plant species to include.
The Worm Waste Composting Project
Students at The James Hornsby School want to develop a holistic system for composting the food waste produced on site. They will begin by composting uncooked vegetable waste in their new worm composters, before using the compost on the school’s newly planted trees – a clear demonstration of a circular approach to waste!
The Seed Bomb Window Box Workshops
To encourage environmental awareness among the school community, Co-op Academy Portland are hosting a series of workshops teaching families gardening skills and ways you can transform grey spaces into green ones using everyday objects to make seed bombs and window boxes.
The Plant with Families Project
With their prize money, Ysgol Bryn Deva plan to create a small dedicated outdoor learning space, complete with composting bins, basic gardening tools and raised beds. They also plan to run a community planting event, where every student and their family will have the chance to come together to plant native trees, shrubs and learn sustainable gardening practices.
The Community Green Knowledge Project
St Mary’s Catholic Primary School are on a mission to involve their whole community on their nature journey. Their prize money will go towards a series of events, including family planting days, seed sharing meetings and ‘Steps towards Net Zero’ workshops. They’ll also be bringing in expertise from local garden societies and sustainable farming experts, ensuring their valuable knowledge is shared as widely as possible!
The ‘Plant and Grow Together’ Event
To build a community spirit focused on sustainability, Fawley Infant School are planning a community event to bring together families, students and staff. The day will include hands-on biodiversity workshops, mini-beast hunts, bug hotel building as well as free seed-packs for families with guidance on setting up their own nature-friendly spaces at home.
All content © 2025 Ashden. Registered office: The Peak, 3rd Floor 5 Wilton Road, London, SW1V 1AP Registered in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee. Registered number: 05062574/ Charity number: 1104153
English (UK) 
Cymraeg