Inspirational projects that bring students closer to nature.
For a chance to win £500, 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 30 chances to win £500.
This year’s winning projects focus on keys areas schools can cut carbon effectively:
To make good use of an underused area of school land, Lenthall Infant and Nursery School is creating a bee pollination and sensory garden designed to boost biodiversity and climate resilience. To address overheating and exposure issues, they will plant pollinator-friendly wildflowers, hedging, and trees. A rain garden and water play zone will introduce sustainable draining principles to tackle drought vulnerability, whilst giving students hands-on opportunities to learn about water conservation.
To deal with surface flooding that regularly blocks classroom access, Prettygate Junior School will create two rain gardens with their prize money. They will install a shed with guttering to channel rainwater into water butts and a rain garden and pond, creating a sustainable drainage system informed by their Eco-Warriors’ research on Essex rainfall trends and climate impacts.
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School will use their prize money to install a living wall outside of two of their classrooms. The living wall will provide temperature regulation for the classrooms in both warm and cold weather, as well as helping to reduce both air and noise pollution. Their students will be involved in both the installation and maintenance of the living wall, using recycled plastic milk bottles to plant in. Staff hope the project will inspire students and families to grow at home, even for those with limited outdoor space.
To help the school adapt to climate change impacts such as surface water flooding and heatwaves, Watling Park School plans to create a small-scale rain garden and install natural shading features. The prize money will go towards native plants, soil, shade sail materials and educational signage. Their project aims to adapt to flooding and overheating while increasing biodiversity and student engagement, creating a replicable model for other schools in their Trust.
In an effort to make their outdoor areas more climate resilient, The Woodroffe School is undergoing a school wide transformation through its ‘Botanical Garden Project’. As part of this, they will use the prize money to install a gravel garden to help deal with issues of drought and flooding. The use of gravel allows rainwater to seep into the soil, reducing soil erosion and managing flow rates from hard surfaces during heavy rains, making the school more resilient to the impacts of extreme weather.
Lapford Community Primary School is on a mission to provide a hands-on learning environment that helps children understand how small changes can make a big difference. With the prize money, they plan to build wormeries to recycle food and fruit waste, reducing landfill waste whilst creating rich compost for their new growing beds. Students will take responsibility for monitoring the wormeries and using the compost for growing their own produce for snack-time.
To promote sustainability and build resilience to climate change, Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College will develop their school allotment and install a rain harvesting system to support sustainable growing practices. Rain harvesting and a sustainable irrigation system ensures their growing spaces can withstand hot and dry weather while continuing to provide fresh produce and hands-on learning opportunities for students.
Malcolm Arnold Academy’s Eco Club wants to transform a grey concrete area of their school into a vibrant and climate-resilient green space by installing a vertical green living wall, which will be designed, planted, and maintained by the Eco Club. Their living wall will bring nature into an underutilised area – creating a calm, restorative space for learning, whilst reducing air pollution too.
Whitefriars School will use their prize money to create their own on-site Forest School by restoring overgrown woodland into a managed natural space with shading, water harvesting and drought tolerant planting. The space will increase accessibility to outdoor learning, especially for the nurture club and high needs pupils, as well as boosting biodiversity and protecting local ecosystems.
With a south facing concrete playground that regularly overheats, Victoria Park Primary School will use their prize money to add greenery and create shaded areas. The money will go towards SuDs planters with drought resistant trees, and plants that can thrive in rising temperatures. The planters will also help reduce puddle accumulation by slowing rainwater flow and show students how small, practical actions can build climate resilience.
As part of their partnership with a local university, Goat Lees Primary School will use its prize money to create a butterfly friendly garden in an overgrown area of their school. Students have researched host plants for the butterflies to lay their eggs on and will learn a host of conservation skills – all whilst helping to reverse the decline of butterfly populations.
Manchester Secondary Pupil Referral Unit will use their prize money to launch a vegetable growing project. The idea came directly from students and will be led entirely by them – from researching what to grow and harvesting the crops, to using the produce in food tech lessons. Students will learn valuable life skills linked to employability – particularly important as 90% of the student body follow vocational routes.
As a Special Educational Needs school, Blaise High School is committed to equipping its students with practical life skills. They plan to spend their prize money on developing a garden area for students to learn a variety of outdoor practical gardening skills. Every week, students will have hands-on lessons about plant life cycles, food origins, tool safety and garden maintenance, with a focus on teamwork and communication. Alongside developing students’ green skills, the school hopes the project will help to build confidence through practical achievements and learning.
Longshaw Primary Academy hopes to empower pupils to become environmental stewards through hands-on habitat management and maintenance. With their prize money, they are going to redevelop their pond space into a vibrant living classroom. They will introduce native aquatic plants, bug hotels, and bird feeders to boost biodiversity and will purchase educational resources for students to fully explore the space as part of their science and geography lessons.
For pupils at ACE Schools Prospect’s secondary school site, their new Green Skills Garden will give them the chance to learn green skills that are directly linked to qualifications. Students will take on different green roles, including garden manager and biodiversity lead, and will learn a range of conservation, scientific and practical gardening skills. As an alternative provision, the school hopes to empower the students, many of whom have faced significant educational barriers, to see themselves as future environmental changemakers.
The Eco-committee at Cleeve School has ambitious plans to build green skills and make their school more sustainable. They will use the prize money across three projects: surveying, mapping and then improving the school’s biodiversity; building a mini ‘future farm’ using hydroponics; and building and launching a weather balloon to capture climate data. Students will share the projects’ progress with the local community, youth groups and feeder primary schools, connecting different groups through hands-on experiences that raise aspirations and help young people visualize themselves in different types of green careers.
Situated in the middle of an estate, Weelsby Academy is developing a whole school greening plan to increase student access to nature. Students, alongside SLT, will be responsible for developing this plan which will include creating pockets of green space around the school through the installation of planters, green walls, hanging baskets and a garden space to grow fruit and veg. The project will give hands-on experience in planning, planting, and maintaining green spaces while developing pupil leadership.
As a school with very limited green space, Christ Church CE Primary School Birkenhead will use their prize money to transform concrete areas of the school site into thriving green spaces, complete with composting systems, rainwater collection and wildlife habitats. Students will get hands-on experience of greening small spaces, developing their skills in resource management and helping them to become informed environmental citizens.
Alford Primary School will use its prize money to create a whole school living laboratory, developing students’ green skills through hands on scientific work. The money will go towards wildlife cameras, insect house materials, weather stations, plant propagation stations, as well as planters and soil. The project aims to spark students’ interest in green careers and give them practical experience across a range of sectors.
With their prize money, Stoke Park Primary School is going to launch a weekly gardening club and turn an existing memorial garden into a thriving growing space. Students will learn a range of skills including plant care, crop rotation, habitat management, and how sustainable land management contributes to tackling climate change. The garden will also benefit the school’s SEND students by offering calming regulation space for one-to-one support.
Students in St Matthew’s Primary School’s eco-team will use their prize money to design an innovative ‘Gardening at home’ book, showing families with limited space how to grow fruit and vegetables, and featuring easy recipes using homegrown ingredients and multicultural family dishes from the local community. They have already teamed up with a local second-hand bookshop, an environmental charity, and community volunteers to develop content. All book sales will benefit three charities, and they hope the finished book will reach up to 1,000 students and become a lasting resource for the community.
Students at Christ the King Emmanuel Sixth Form have been busy developing their own curriculum linked environmental projects for local nursery and primary students. With the prize money, they are going to run a series of bee workshops, centered around storytelling, to create an ecosystem of sustainability education that’s student-led, creative and community focused. Alongside storytelling activities, the money will be used to give students the chance to take part in pollinator planting and seed-bomb making.
As part of their school’s Climate Action Plan, The Kimberley School has developed a collaborative community project centered around their allotment. They will use their prize money to run three community weekend workshops to turn the space into a thriving wildlife haven. The workshops will bring together different sections of the community, from families and students, to scout groups and Rumble Tums – a café supporting young people with learning difficulties, to get hands-on with nature.
As an urban school, Whitefield Primary School are going to use their prize money to run parent-child workshops teaching families how to create beautiful container gardens, so even those without access to green spaces can get hands-on experience of planting. Families will take home seeds to start their own container gardens, whilst each class will be responsible for planting and maintaining their own container gardens, transforming the school’s green spaces into vibrant learning environments.
Co-op Academy Woodlands plan to install raised bed planters outside their community shop, so parents and wider community members can pick fresh produce to supplement their shopping. Students and parents will work side by side to plant and maintain the garden throughout the year, teaching practical gardening skills and inspiring families to create their own growing spaces at home.
To grow the impact of their Community Fridge, Co-op Academy Delius are launching a growing area and seed library. The new space will provide free fresh produce to families, as well as giving pupils hands-on cultivation and enterprise skills. Eventually, the school hopes to grow its impact by having a mobile market stall, ensuring fresh, affordable food reaches more families.
The Derby High School plans to use its prize money to tackle food poverty and waste while teaching students sustainable agriculture, enterprise and leadership. They will use the money to install growing equipment so they can include fresh produce in their ‘ouR Store’: a food hub where families can buy healthy food using ‘R’ tokens, making nutritious meals accessible to those accessing free school meals. Students are also planning to rescue surplus food from local shops and connect with local food banks.
With the help of the school community, Bluecoat Primary Academy is in the process of turning their large backfield into a Miyawaki forest to create diverse ecosystems and boost biodiversity. As part of this project, they will use their prize money to install a sustainably sourced wooden shelter, creating a space for outdoor lessons and community events. They will collaborate with local environmental groups to run workshops, inspiring the wider community to connect with nature and take steps to protect it.
Students at William Hulme’s Grammar School’s Primary Pupil Leadership Team want to support families in need through their Free School Pantry. With the prize money, they will create an on-site allotment to grow fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs which will then be distributed to families accessing the pantry. The whole project is designed to bring the school and local community closer together, through shared growing days and ‘sustainable living’ workshops with local organizations and food banks.
As an OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) school, Sunnyside Academy has been busy reimagining its outdoor spaces to provide students with different play and learning opportunities. To grow the initiative, and expand its impact, they will use their prize money to develop their outdoor pond area for the whole school community to use. Parents and carers will be involved in the planning, development and ongoing maintenance of the site, creating an inclusive outdoor space where the wider community can connect with nature.
