Nature Ambassadors
Our ‘Nature Ambassador’ programme offers a day a week for 6 weeks to groups of secondary school pupils who struggle with accessing the national curriculum for a wide variety of reasons, for example hearing loss, visual impairment, additional learning needs, challenging behaviour, anxiety, etc. The pupils learn new skills as they help to restore habitats and increase biodiversity on our land. As well as playing nature-themed games, they take part in creative crafts like making charcoal, beeswax candles and decorative hanging mobiles made from foraged natural materials. They also take part in more practical activities such as planting trees, planting heather seed, building bird boxes and insect hotels, clearing bramble overgrowth, monitoring trees, and splitting and stacking firewood, and cooking over a campfire.
As these programmes progress, we observe an impressive growth in participants’ resilience, confidence and leadership skills, and we see new friendships develop within the groups.
We are currently working with groups from Penglais and Penweddig schools in Aberystwyth, and Bro Hyddgen school in Machynlleth.
It makes me happy to be outside. I like the area where it is – it makes me feel happy
At the end of each day, when we wave goodbye to a bus full of tired and muddy but smiling, confident and happy young people, we appreciate once more the power of nature and the outdoors to improve wellbeing, self-esteem and self-confidence.
