Countryside Classroom is proud to announce a new partnership with London based organisation Grow Your Own Playground, who go into schools all year round to take curriculum linked lessons for all year groups. The partnership helps to strengthen our mission to connect children with nature, food and outdoor learning.
This exciting collaboration brings together two organisations passionate about inspiring young people through hands-on experiences in the natural world. As an official Countryside Classroom partner, Grow Your Own Playground will now be part of a national network supporting schools, early years settings and community groups to make better use of the outdoors as a powerful learning environment.
Grow Your Own Playground specialises in helping schools and communities transform their outdoor spaces into vibrant, productive environments. Through edible gardens, wildlife areas, outdoor classrooms and play-based learning spaces, the organisation encourages children to grow, explore and learn in ways that build confidence, curiosity and environmental awareness.
By working together the Countryside Classroom partnership aim to make outdoor learning more accessible, practical and impactful for schools across the UK. The partnership will support teachers in embedding gardening, food growing and nature-based activities into the curriculum, while also encouraging schools to see their outdoor spaces as rich learning landscapes.
CEO Cassie Howard said "It is important to me that the garden becomes part of the school and can be used by the whole school" Cassie and her team of volunteers build gardens even in the most challenging of sites ... " we have some roof gardens which are quite challenging to get soil up to / down from!" The benefits of learning outdoors though are clearly evident in the children that they work with.
The partnership reflects a shared commitment to sustainability, healthy lifestyles and meaningful education. With growing concern around children’s connection to nature, this collaboration provides a timely boost to efforts that place outdoor learning at the heart of education.
Schools and educators can expect to see new resources, ideas and opportunities emerging from this partnership over the coming months, helping to nurture the next generation of confident, curious and environmentally aware young people.
For more information about Grow Your Own Playground and its work go HERE.
