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Wilder Schools

If you’re looking for longer term support to improve your school grounds for nature; outdoor, curriculum-linked learning or nature connection for your whole school community, our Wilder School programme offers structured, tailored support over 1–3 years, closely aligned with the National Education Nature Park.

© Miles Davies
City of Meadows Mile Oak School Miles Davies
Shoreham Beach Primary Miles Davies© Miles Davies.

We’re now welcoming expressions of interest from teachers and school leaders for our Wilder Schools programme for the 2026-2027 academic year.

Through Wilder Schools, Sussex Wildlife Trust partners with your school for 1–3 years to support you in embedding nature connection and outdoor learning across your curriculum, school culture and community.

Connection to local blue and green spaces  

Discover how nearby wild places can enrich your learners’ experience of the National Curriculum
Walk, wonder, learn, and connect with nature on your doorstep.

Tailored support to explore your local space
Through targeted CPD, INSETs, or modelled sessions with your class, we help you unlock the potential of your local environment and support you to get out into it with confidence.

swt forestschool 26 1© Roz Bassford
Milly Rudling Youth Trustee in a pond Archie Taplin© Archie Taplin

Site improvement

Bring your school’s climate action plan to life & use it as a learning tool!
Through child-centred consultation, we support you to: Create habitats. Capture rainwater. Grow food. Support pollinators. Every space has potential for wildlife and learners.

We work with you to plan and deliver meaningful steps for biodiversity, adaptation, and resilience
No matter the size of your site, we’ll help you explore improvements that benefit both wildlife and outdoor learning.

Wildflower areas, living walls, dead hedging, ponds, bog gardens, vegetable beds, woodland management – each a chance for children to get involved, learn, and lead.

Outdoor learning and nature connection 

Support to embed outdoor learning
Modelled sessions, CPD, and planning support to build confidence, creativity, and curriculum links using your outdoor space.

Spaces for everyday nature connection
Create welcoming, nature-rich spaces that support wellbeing and connection – for your whole school community – beyond the classroom and outside of structured learning time.

Shoreham Beach Primary Miles Davies© Miles Davies.
Mark N Cleo and vol at a Primary School for wildflower gardening 1© Mark Newton

Do these sound like the kind of things your school might want to explore? Let’s talk!

Register your interest

Join the Sussex Wildlife Trust community

Become a member today to protect nature for tomorrow

As a member, you get access to free guided nature walks, magazines about local wildlife, discounts on courses and events, and a guide to our reserves.

Not quite ready to join but want to help?

Donate to help create a wilder future for nature in Sussex

Choose to give money to a specific cause, or to our work to manage local reserves, defend nature, and create wonderfully wild spaces on land and beneath the waves.