• Forest school drawing

    Forest school drawing

  • Snowy Day

    Snowy Day

    The garden is to be enjoyed in all weathers.

  • Willow Structures to Explore

    Willow Structures to Explore

    A range of living willow structures are in the garden waiting to be explored.

  • Art garden

    Art garden

  • Green crown

    Green crown

  • Forest School Programmes

    Forest School Programmes

    We offer Forest Schools Programmes for primary and secondary ages, either in our beautiful garden, or if you have the space, we can help you set up a Forest School area in your own school. Our education manager has 7 years experience running forest school session for children and young people...

  • Volunteer at SNCG

    Volunteer at SNCG

    Find out more about volunteering

  • Beautiful ponds

    Beautiful ponds

  • Forest School Training, Newcastle, UK
  • Forest garden

    Forest garden

  • Wild flowers

    Wild flowers

  • Forest garden

    Forest garden

  • School visits

Schools of Sanctuary (SOS) visits

Welcome to our Schools of Sanctuary visits page!20240619 143711 Copy

Alongside our regular school visits programme, we also offer sessions for school groups based on the ethos of the Schools of Sanctuary (SOS) network. These sessions are ideal for schools who are in the process of applying for the SOS award, or those schools who are already members of the SOS network. 

If you'd like to know more about the Schools of Sanctuary network, please see here: Home - Schools of Sanctuary (cityofsanctuary.org) or their facebook page Facebook.

During the sessions at Scotswood Garden, children explore the concept of 'Welcome' in our beautiful, natural setting. The sessions include activities such as:

  • learning welcoming phrases in different languages,
  • creating welcoming decorations using natural materials
  • fostering teamwork, empathy and kindness.

Thanks to the generous support of the Wellesley Fund and the Curtin PARP fund, we're able to provide these sessions free of charge (with only a small admin fee of £15). The sessions can be either a half or full-day and can be tailored to accommodate specific year groups, school councils, or designated groups of 'Sanctuary Friends'. We aim for a maximum of 15 children per session. 

To book a session or to find out more, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

  

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Comments from Teachers about our SOS sessions

"This was a lovely sessions and was easy for pupils with varying fluency in English to understand and participate in."

"This was a super session, very well organised, well prepared and resourced."

"Linked well with our work as a School of Sanctuary."

"It strengthened their teamwork skills and relationships with each other."
 
 

Comments from Children 

"This is the best day ever!"

"It was fun!"

"I have felt calm."

"Wow!"

 

 

Please note, these sessions tend to fill up very quickly, so please book early to avoid disappointment. Schools who have already attended are welcome to book again with different groups of children. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

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With huge thanks to our funders: The Wellesley Trust Fund and the Curtin PARP fund, both administered by the Community Foundation.

 CF Logo RGB for online docs

 

School Visits - Nature Rescue Task Resources

Nature Rescue Task Ideas and Resources for Schools and Families

This page contains follow up activities for teachers and school children who have attended one of our school visit sessions (and their parents), but the resources here are, of course, open to everyone!

Firstly, thank you for visiting us at Scotswood Garden. As a follow up to all visits, we offer every class the opportunity to take action to help nature once back at school. This could be something the children do individually at home, or something you do as a class or even as a whole school. We do have a small amount of money available to support this work.

Below you’ll find some suggestions for Nature Rescue Tasks, along with links to other organisations and their resources where applicable. You may already have decided what to do, but feel free to browse the ideas below and use them either now or in the future.

We’d also love to hear about how you get on, you can tag us in to any social media posts (@scotswoodgarden) or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to let us know what you’ve been up to. This kind of evidence is really helpful to us when applying for future funding (virtually all our work is funded by grants), so thank you in advance for your support. Photos - please only send us photos of children who have the relevant photo permissions. 

A word to PARENTS: If you’re reading this as a parent, first of all, thank you for your interest. Lots of the ideas below are actions you could take with your child to help nature. Most of them don’t require a lot of resources. Also some of the links to other organisations will take you to lots of other ideas too. Good luck. Again feel free to let us know about your successes!

If you have any queries or suggestions about anything on this page, please do email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Good luck - we can’t wait to see how it goes!

Here are some links to other organisations who have great resources:

Activities | Wildlife Watch - this is the young persons wing of the Wildlife Trust. Scroll down the page to see their excellent "how to" instruction sheets and id sheets too. 

Nature Activities for Kids | Fun & Learning - The RSPB On this page, you'll find links to activities you can do to help nature (Ways to get Wild), but also at the bottom of the page links to the teachers' section. Here you'll find information on their Wild Challenge which includes lots of activities you can do at school. There are lots of other resources too!

Free Trees for Schools and Communities - Woodland Trust If you're thinking about planting trees to help nature, this is the site you need. The Woodland Trust offer free trees to schools. Browse the different packs. If you want advice on planting trees, let us know. 

 bird_feeder_copy.jpeg  tree_planting.jpeg  litter_pick_copy_copy.jpeg  planting1.jpeg  plants3.jpeg

Ideas for Nature Rescue Tasks

Plant Pollinator Friendly Flowers

Good for - pollinators and anything which depends on them

How to - You can either grow these from seed, scatter seeds, buy plants (or get them from us!) This is a good activity for the children to do themselves. They can take the plants home or plant them in school. See our instruction page below in links. 

Links -planting for pollinators leaflet copy copy copy Planting herbs to support pollinators - Scotswood Garden 

Further action 

  • Why not have a sunflower growing competition? Or a bean growing contest? They can link in with maths and english as well as the science aspects of pollination and the life cycle of plants. For older children you could take a more technical approach and work out the rate of growth of plants; compare plants treated differently (e.g. with or without water, with or without plant food etc)
  • Do some insect id to see how many species you attract. Keep a record, make a chart. Use insect colours in art (colour mixing, looking at shape and form)
  • Make a mini meadow (see separate entry).
  • Grow herbs and make potions (both fun and great for pollinators)! Also cooking with herbs is great fun too.

Resources - Seeds, compost, plant pots or better still recycled plastic containers. 

 

Make Seed Bombs

Good for - pollinators and anything which relies on pollinators.

How to - Mix the seeds with some compost. Take a piece of clay, roll it out and then sprinkle the seed/compost mix. Roll sections of the clay into small balls. Then the best bit is throwing them where you would like them to grow!

Links -  seed_bombs.jpeg There's a great instruction sheet on the wildlife trust website Activities | Wildlife Watch click the "grow" option until the title "Activities". They use powdered clay and water, but the pictures give you the idea!

Further action - Monitor them, see what grows! Count the species which visit the flowers. Maybe make seed bombs at other times of the year too! If the children take them home, ask for reports and photos from home. 

Resources - seeds (anything you want to grow, or seeds collected from the garden), compost, clay (use natural clay without polymers) Possibly a tiny (really tiny) amount of water. 

 

Make bird feeders

Good for - birds (and maybe the odd squirrel!)

How to - See our own instructions below. You can use peanut butter instead of lard, but please check for allergies first. We also use trex (a white vegetable fat) instead of lard when working with Muslim children. At home - you can do this at home too!

Links -  bird_feeder_pine.jpeg Making pine cone bird feeders - Scotswood Garden

Further action

  • Put your feeders somewhere where the children can monitor them without disturbing the birds. Keep a list of birds which visit the feeders (you can do some data handling with this).
  • Why not add a nest box? (See separate entry)
  • Birds are great for art work. You could make model birds using mixed materials, do colour mixing.
  • Listen to bird song (this could be for id or for a peaceful nature connected moment)
  • Experiment with different types of feeders.
  • Add a water station for birds when the weather is dry. 

Resources - Lard, trex or peanut butter, bird seed, mealworms, pine cones (dried out so that they open out) string. 

 

Build a mini pond 

Good for - insects, pondlife, birds

How to - This is not quite at hard as it sounds! This version uses an old washing up bowl which you can sink into the ground. See the instructions in our leaflet. 

Linksmakiing a pond leaflet Making a pond - Scotswood Garden

Further action

  • As above, if you get some regular visitors to your pond, you can monitor and count them. Things like dragonflies and damselflies are wonderful to watch.

If you're lucky, you may get frogs or newts using your pond. Then you'll open up a whole new world of life cycles for the children to learn about first hand.  

Resources - Old washing up bowl, rocks, gravel, wood, a spade/trowel

 

Make a bee bath

Good for - bees and other pollinators

How to -  A bee bath is a place for bees to rest and collect water. It's usually no more than a shallow dish with rocks and water where bees can rest. Use a mixture of small rocks and smooth pebbles - anything which is big enough for bees to land on. Then add water but don't submerge the rocks.

Links - Watch this video from the Royal Parks 

Further action - You'll need to top the saucer up with water regularly, and in warm weather every day. If this is at school, this could be someone's job. This is also a great activity for children to do at home. 

Resources - Large plant saucers or any other wide, shallow container; pebbles, small rocks.

 

Grow vegetables

Good for - pollinators, bugs, and humans!

How to - Plant seeds in pots. Things like beans are fast growers, also radishes, herbs like chives. Plant out into a veg plot once the plants grow larger. At home - start with something simple and most importantly something you like! You don't need a garden for this, you could grow some herbs or salad leaves in a pot too.

LinksGetting started with vegetables - help and advice on growing veg / RHS Gardening

Further action -  There are lots of great links to literacy, science (parts of a plant, what plants need to grow, maths (measuring), also cooking and tasting of course!

Resources - Compost, recycled yogurt pots for plant pots (clear ones are great if you want to look at the roots), seeds. You can also use newspaper to make plant pots. 

 

Make a bug hotel 

Good for - any bugs which like to hibernate over winter

How to - this depends on how big you want to make it! Children can make individual ones using plastic bottles or you can make a big one as a whole class - great for team building, communication etc.!

LinksHow to Build a Bug Hotel - Woodland Trust

Further action - It might need a bit of maintenance, such as adding more dried grass and sticks. 

Resources - For a large bug hotel: bricks, different sized sticks, dried grass, pine cones, old roof tiles, slabs of wood.

For individual bug hotels: two-litre plastic bottles, string, a range of different sized sticks, dried grass, pine cones.

 

Organise a litter pick 

Good for - all wild creatures. Litter is a big threat to creatures such as hedgehogs, birds, foxes.

How to - this depends on how big you want to make it! Teachers - you could do this as a class or as a whole school. Maybe you could involve parents too? We have a certain number of litter pickers which we are happy to lend out for litter picking. You'll need a risk assessment too, but we have one which you could use as a starting point for your own. Parents - this is something you could do with your children. Best to buy a litter picker, if you can and please wear gloves.

LinksClean-up preparation and safety advice | Keep Britain Tidy

Further action

Litter picking could lead into discussions about plastics and sea pollution, the three R's etc. The children could do research into this and prepare a presentation on it. One great activity if you have supportive parents, is to ask the children to collect all the plastic their family throws away in a week (or maybe a couple of days). This would be a great task for data handling too!    

Resources - Litter pickers (which teachers can borrow from us), bin bags, gloves, risk assessment. 

 

Make a meadow

Good for - pollinators and anything which eats or relies on pollinators (including us)

How to - the simplest way to do this at school is not to mow. If you are lucky enough to have a decent sized playing field, cordon off a corner and make some signs so that it doesn’t get mowed when the grass cutting team comes around. You’ll be amazed what you find there. 

Parents - Leave a little bit of lawn to grow wild, maybe the front lawn if you have one? 

LinksPlantlife Meadows | Home

Further action - You could survey what plants are there to begin with and what grows once it is left. You could also survey the numbers of insects. Great for id work too. You could make seed bombs or scatter wild flower seed to enrich the area. If the area is big enough, you could mow a path through it, so that the children can get in and really explore. 

Resources - Signs and maybe some rope or tape to cordon off the area. 

 

With huge thanks to our funders: 

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Growing Together Programme -research article December 2019

 

An independent evaluation of the Growing Together project was carried out with Stephen Crossley, a Social Policy researcher from Northumbria University. This evaluation was carried out with the full participation of the volunteer team. With Stephen's careful guidance we were able capture some of the softer wellbeing outcomes of our work, which can be harder to measure. The evaluation shows the Growing Together project is delivering well on our outcomes, and validates the approach we take.

Evaluation image

Community Forum

 

At Scotswood Garden we strive to ensure that the voices of local people inform our work.  We involve local people in decision making in a number of ways.  We run regular participation forums for our volunteers, older people and young people.  The minutes of our volunteer/older peoples forum meetings are found below.

 

Minutes for 5th February 2020

Minutes for 30th October 2019

Minutes for 3rd July 2019

Minutes for 24th April 2019

Minutes for 13th March 2019

Minutes for 30th January 2019

BREEZE Forest School for Emotional Wellbeing

Breeze is our Forest School programme focused on emotional wellbeing.

From 2018-2021 we worked with 4 partner schools and Newcastle University to evaluate the impact of specialist forest school programmes for children and young people experiencing social and emotional difficulties in their lives. The research found the forest school sessions had a significant impact on the emotional wellbeing of the children and young people.

Click on the blue writing for an executive summary of the research.

The full report (123 pages) can be found here.

Since 2021 we have been developing a new network stage of the project supporting the four original schools and 5 additional schools who are interested in using forest schools to support the emotional wellbeing of children and young people. If you would like more information or like to discuss joining the network please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

As of 2023 we have moved into the next stage of the project, during which we will continue to support our existing network of schools, and work closely with 3 more schools. 

 Previous Breeze Publications: 

Working with Newcastle University we have created an information booklet for use in schools and other settings who want to explore using forest school to support children and young people's social and emotional wellbeing. To download the PDF free of charge please click on the link below. 

Information Booklet for schools and other settings:

Forest School for Wellbeing

To read the project report for the pilot year please click on the link below.

Breeze Forest School (3rd edition)

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The Garden

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Two and a half acres of beautiful organic garden containing ponds, meadows, woodland, sculptures fruit and vegetables.

Youth Work/Schools/Learning

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Our education and youth programmes for young people cover a huge variety of themes and activities including pond dipping, environmental arts, forest schools, Duke of Edinburgh and more...

Get Involved

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As well as our everyday activities, staff and volunteers frequently become involved in projects.

Support

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We are always looking for support from our local community and beyond. Please come along and visit the garden.

Services

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We believe that it is far better to work with nature to create beautiful and productive places, rather than wage war on pests and weeds.