Rewild Your School: Simple Steps to Bring Nature Back into the Playground
How Schools Can Rewild Their School Grounds: A Practical Guide for Educators
Rewilding isn’t just for vast nature reserves or rural landscapes—it can start right in your own school grounds. As schools look for creative ways to enrich outdoor learning, foster wellbeing, and support biodiversity, rewilding has emerged as a powerful, hands-on approach that benefits both students and the environment.
Whether your school has a large field or just a small patch of green space, here’s how you can begin rewilding your school grounds—and why it matters.
What is Rewilding?
Rewilding is the process of restoring natural ecosystems by encouraging the growth of native plants, trees, and wildlife. In a school setting, it means letting parts of the grounds return to a more natural state, offering students opportunities to connect with nature while boosting biodiversity on site.
Why Rewild School Grounds?
Rewilding can transform learning and wellbeing:
Outdoor Learning: Wild areas offer rich, sensory environments for storytelling, science, art, and exploration.
Student Wellbeing: Studies show that time in nature reduces stress and improves focus and mood.
Biodiversity: Rewilded areas become homes for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife, teaching children the value of environmental stewardship.
Steps to Rewild Your School Grounds
1. Start Small
You don’t need to transform the entire playground. A corner of a field, an unused flower bed, or even a planter box can be the beginning of a mini wild habitat.
2. Plant Native Trees and Shrubs
Trees provide shelter, shade, and food for countless species. Apply for free native trees through the Woodland Trust’s Free Trees for Schools scheme. They offer saplings each autumn and spring, tailored for school environments.
3. Let the Grass Grow
Consider reducing how often you mow certain areas. Longer grass encourages wildflowers and creates habitat for insects like butterflies, bees, and beetles—an easy and cost-effective step.
4. Create a Wildlife Zone
Add features such as:
Log piles for beetles and fungi
Mini ponds (even an old washing-up bowl can work!)
Bug hotels and bird boxes
Wildflower patches
5. Get Pupils Involved
Use the rewilding project as a living classroom. Pupils can design the area, plant trees, track species, write nature journals, or collect data for science projects. This fosters ownership and care for the site.
6. Partner with Environmental Charities
Work with organisations like Learning Through Landscapes, a UK charity that helps schools use their grounds for outdoor learning and play. They provide training, resources, and funding opportunities to support projects like yours.
Make It a Whole-School Effort
Rewilding works best when supported across the curriculum and school community. Involve staff, parents, and governors in planning and celebrating the changes. Share progress through photos, student writing, or even a “rewilding diary” on your school website.
Final Thoughts
Rewilding school grounds is about more than planting trees—it’s about cultivating curiosity, care, and resilience in young people. With support from organisations like the Woodland Trust and Learning Through Landscapes, every school can take a step toward a wilder, richer learning environment.