Sustainability
This hands-on day explores the natural environment at Skelton through lots of outside activities. The children follow a trail around the woodlands, completing challenges throughout, to start the beginning of their training to become 'guardians of the earth'. The trail is designed to help children develop a connection with nature, to understand natural life-processes and cycles and to gain skills and information that will enable them to be comfortable in, and to have a positive impact on, natural environments.The day aims to support the National Framework for Sustainable Schools, and although you will find that many of the activities have good national curriculum links, this is not strictly the emphasis of the day. The day also gives the children an excellent opportunity to participate in learning outside the classroom.
The activities aim to:
- Provide children with some background knowledge about their environment to help them to live lightly in the world.
- Allow children the opportunity to experience the natural environment and therefore encourage a sense of care and concern for the planet.
- Give children ideas for fun, environmentally sustainable, low-impact activities that the children can continue to pursue at home and in their spare time
Availability
All year round, suitable for winter term.Day Summary
The day begins with an introduction by the day leader, welcoming the children to the centre and explaining what will be happening in the day. We have a general discussion about the natural environment and ways to have a positive impact on it, and have a warm up game.The children then split into 3 groups to complete the Earth Guardian's Trail. The trail has three main components: the magic of plants, the magic of soil and a seasonal topic.

