ABSTRACT
A study commissioned by Natural England in 2015 found that three-quarters of UK children spend less time outside than prison inmates, a fifth of the children did not play outside at all on an average day and 12% (around 1.3 million) rarely, if ever, visited the natural environment, including green spaces in towns and cities. Bringing nature into school and creating an integrated approach to the whole school environment is clearly going to be better than relying on break times alone. The creation of a verdant environment is a clear objective, but sterile exotic evergreens will have little effect. Planting needs to be in a natural style, emulating ecosystems as far as possible. Children’s need to race around in some open space is clear to anybody passing a primary school playground, but contact with nature is a critical dimension that needs to be incorporated into a healthy environment.
