Spotlight on: Grimes Dyke Primary School
It’s our month of raising awareness of Child Friendly Leeds Wish 5 – everyone takes more action to protect the environment from climate change – and we couldn’t let this month pass by without shining the spotlight on Grimes Dyke Primary School, who are doing amazing things to take climate action and teach our youngsters the importance of protecting their environment.
We’d like to thank Louise Hill, Grimes Dyke Primary’s Headteacher, for providing us with a bit more of an insight into the school that has been celebrated by the National History Museum and is the only educational setting to have been recognised by the Yorkshire Rewilding Network.
Grimes Dyke Primary School is very fortunate to have extensive green space and prioritise play and outdoor learning as part of our curriculum offer. As a school community, we are determined to use our grounds to their full potential and to teach the children about nature and in nature so they can start to realise their own impact on climate change. The school is so passionate about nature and the environment that children spend a lot of time outside both as part of the curriculum and our play offer. Every child has a pair of wellies as part of their school uniform.
Rewilding their grounds and increasing the biodiversity.
We began rewilding our site in 2019 and are champion tree planters planting at least 500 per year with every child involved. We hold the Woodland Trust gold award for our efforts and were recently shortlisted for the North of England Royal Forestry Society ‘Education and Learning’ Award. The judging team said that Grimes Dyke…
“…have shown tremendous creativity and resourcefulness in achieving their aims. They have tremendous passion, enthusiasm and drive, working in partnership wherever possible to ensure the children from such a disadvantaged community have the best possible start in life and a chance to reconnect with nature and each other. Children have described the school as their ‘happy place’.“
North of England Royal Forestry Society
In the past two years, we have gone further by allowing vast areas of our green space to re-wild creating meadow space for the children to play in and explore. Paths are cut through the long grass, and all are edged to show that this is a deliberate act for nature. We even have a Leeds City Council sign in our school grounds to explain our approach. We think we’re the only school in Leeds to have this! This has led to us being included on the Yorkshire Rewilding Network map, again the only educational establishment to be included! We are planning a summer term event for members to tour our grounds and hope to invite other schools to inspire them to follow our lead.
In rewilding our school grounds, we have done the same for the children. They are passionate and knowledgeable about our grounds and it’s impact on biodiversity which has increased enormously. The children notice the changes in biodiversity and are able to name trees, plants, birds as well as being able to identify animal tracks and poo! The impact on the environment and on the mental health of the children speak for themselves.
The Science and Nature Club that ignite a passion
The Science and Nature Club at Grimes Dyke leads the way with our climate work. This is a hugely oversubscribed and well attended club which is creating a group of young climate warriors. We have used resources from the Education Nature Park in partnership with the Natural History Museum to equip the children with the passion, skills and knowledge to have a positive impact on the climate emergency. They recently worked together to discuss key questions, such as ‘How would you like our grounds to make you and other people feel?’ and ‘What would you like to be able to see?’, before narrowing down their thoughts and agreeing on a final statement vision statement together.
The impact on the children throughout our work is immense, both in terms of their well-being but also their passion and knowledge to make a difference.
A vision statement that leads the way…
The children from the Science and Nature club recently came together to create a vision statement for their nature park as part of the National Education Nature Park and Climate Action Awards, led by the National History Museum. This work was recognised on their webpage…
…and on their Twitter…
Importantly, the vision is something that really is brought to life at Grimes Dyke Primary, where children are truly curious about the natural world around them. Including this boy in Year 6 who spotted something interesting on the school field recently…
“This week he dragged me across the field at the end of lunchtime to verify that he had found, and correctly identified hedgehog poo! This made me so proud, as not only was he correct, but he was also curious and amazed by his findings. We both agreed that it was a good thing that hedgehogs were in our school grounds and his skills in identifying their presence was not something every 11 year old could do!”
Louise, Headteacher at Grimes Dyke
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[…] Dyke Primary School have a strong focus on outdoor learning. You can read our previous blog about their provision.For International Day of Play, they gave students extra time outdoors to play […]
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