Hands on our marsh!
Students and staff at an Eastbourne school are experiencing the natural world where they live in new ways through an ambitious new project, with support from Sussex Wildlife Trust.
'Nature In Our Hands' aims to connect communities to celebrate and safeguard local natural spaces for learning, wellbeing, and wildlife.
The project kicked off in style in July 2025 with an epic engagement day, which saw over 500 students from West Rise Primary School getting out and exploring their local marsh.
Across the day pupils got involved in pollinator surveys, mindful sketching, pond-dipping and mapping the marsh, supporting by a host of staff, volunteers and members of the Wilder Learning team at Sussex Wildlife Trust.
"It was a true celebration of wildlife on our doorstep," says Dr Poppy Lakeman Fraser, a citizen science specialist at Imperial College London, and project lead on Nature in Our Hands.
"What has become evident is the diversity of experiences. Younger students loved the sense of discovery - exploring the marsh and trying creative activities - while older students engaged deeply with species identification and ecosystem learning."
Students produced 328 artworks for a giant marsh map, 50 individual art pieces, six video clips, and 157 designs for marsh-adapted species, alongside 69 surveys capturing their reflections.
"One of the most powerful insights was that the majority of students asked felt young people’s voices should shape science and, by extension, conservation decision-making," says Poppy.
"That belief is at the heart of our next phase, working closely with a smaller 'Nature Team' of co-researchers to lead conversations about how the marsh can be protected and enhanced for nature, learning and wellbeing for generations to come."
Annie Dean is Nature Science Lead at the school and teaches Year One students.
Annie was attracted to work at West Rise because of its long history of nature-focused work, and she sees potential to do much more with the renewed energy channelled by Nature in Our Hands.
"I love getting the children outside and making that an integral part of their learning," says Annie.
"I would love for the community to get involved, seeing families out there, hearing about their trips to the marsh as much as we hear about them going up to the shopping centre."
Hear more from Annie in this short film:
Zoe Boulton, Wilder Learning Officer at Sussex Wildlife Trust, has been bringing her experience to support the project.
"Once immersed in our natural world, especially those spaces on our doorstep such as the West Rise Marsh, children’s curiosity, thirst for knowledge, energy and compassion grow rapidly," Zoe says.
"By recognising their impact on the environment, it empowers them to take action and the unique Nature in Our Hands project encapsulates that."
Follow Nature In Our Hands via the LinkedIn page or on Instagram.
Looking for support for your school?
See how our Wilder Learning team could support your school and teaching staff, with our Wilder Schools programme and Forest School and Wild Beach training courses.
Booking now for March 2026: Exploring the outdoors with the early years foundation stage hosted at Rye Harbour Discovery Centre in collaboration with STEM Learning.