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4 June 2024
Read time: 3mins
‘Ever wondered how you can make a difference? Can you make changes to your lifestyle that will help connect with and protect our planet?’
Jon Cannell, Primary Curriculum Lead at the GA
World Environment Day
World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated annually on 5 June encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment. It is a global platform to try and make our world a better place and inspire change since it first began in 1972.
Although World Environment Day is celebrated on 5 June, these primary activities can be done at any time. They could also be linked to fieldwork and be included in activities for the GA’s National Festival of Fieldwork, which takes place throughout June and encourages everyone to get involved in fieldwork activities.
Your school grounds
Have you ever been frustrated at school when teachers tell you that you are not allowed on the field because it is too wet (from the rain three days ago!) or worse, that you can go on the field but then you remember that it is just a boring grass field, where even the daisies have to keep their heads down to avoid a weekly hair cut!
Why not have a go at redesigning your school grounds, turning them into an environment that all living things can explore and enjoy all year around?
Let’s take time to consider what makes a place an attractive place to spend time. You would be right to think ‘But that might be different for everyone’. Some of us like our senses to be stimulated with patterns, scents and the buzz of activity… while others prefer to, quietly and curiously, notice what is going on in the world.
This means that your plan should include as many different elements and varied spaces as possible. Start by printing off an outline of your school grounds from a mapping website such as Digimaps or Google Maps and add on some ideas for how it might be changed to provide a more inclusive, inviting… fun environment to spend time. The ideas below will help get your creative juices flowing but be imaginative and anything might be possible…
Sometimes the best way to make a change is to start small, to begin with something manageable and achievable and so maybe choose one of your ideas and think about how you can make it a reality by asking:
- Who do I need to talk to?
- How do we fund any changes?
- What actions do I need to take?
Once you have got people involved you might be able to take on two or three other aspects of your design and even think about other spaces in the local neighbourhood that would benefit from the same kind of makeover. Whose responsibility is it to make these changes? How can you help get the ball rolling?
Sustainability starts with us
Ever wondered how you can make a difference? Can you make changes to your lifestyle that will help connect with and protect our planet?
World Environment Day is approaching on 5 June, why not challenge yourself to choose an action a week for the next month and see if you can persuade a friend or family member to do the same.
Here are twelve possible actions to get you started:
Further resources
Find out more about WED here.
Find out more about the GA’s National Festival of Fieldwork and browse a wide range of activities and resources.
The GA has been working with Oak National Academy to produce new resources for primary geography which are completely free for anyone to use. These are two units from year 1 which you could use to help you with activities that explore the school grounds:
- Local area: how do we read maps and plan routes?
- Local to global: how do we identify special places?
Written by Jon Cannell, Primary Curriculum Leader at the GA
© Jon Cannell, and the Geographical Association, 2024
