The Department for Education has made available a £15 million grant budget to support young people in getting outdoors and learning about the natural world. The funding can be used to:
o Buy equipment or teaching tools, such as acoustic listening devices.
o Help with the purchase of outdoor equipment and clothing.
o Create outdoor teaching areas, and
o Provide accessible routes to nature in schools for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
Education settings are eligible for a grant if they:
o Submitted a school-level census return in the autumn term of the 2021 to 2022 academic year
o Are located in a lower-tier local authority, assessed as a category 1 levelling up area by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in the second round of the Levelling Up Fund
o Are located in a lower-layer super output area (LSOA) in category 1 of Natural England’s Accessible Natural Greenspace Inequalities indicator – as per its Green Infrastructure Map – which is a combined measure of deprivation and access to natural greenspace (less than 5% of the LSOA is covered by or within 300 metres of accessible natural green space, and the LSOA is in the lowest 2 deciles of the Index of Multiple Deprivation
A spreadsheet listing eligible providers can be found on the GOV.UK website.
