We had a constructive discussion with Nick Gibb (Minister for School Standards, DfE).
Sara Collins met with Nick Gibb on September 8th. The meeting included Nick Gibb, two officials from the DfE and Sara’s MP Stephen Morgan (Labour) who introduced her.
This is what She said said:
I can’t tell you how much I have been looking forward to meeting with you, thank you for making the time. And I would like to thank Stephen as my constituency MP for setting this up.
At the risk of sounding a bit like Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator my name is Dr Sara Collins, I am a Scientist, and have worked for over 10 years as a self-employed Forest School Practitioner. I’m mother to a Year 13 student, I was a school governor for 6 years, I am a director of a small national charity and the volunteer lead of the Nature Premium campaign.
I’d like to start by saying that I acknowledge the work of the Department for Education and the money invested in this difficult year. I’m fully aware of the funds the government have made available, and I am familiar with the school curriculum. So today I would like to talk to you about working with the DfE to put together a private/public offering to fund the Nature Premium proposal. This would mean that
The concern of ‘no government money is available’ would not be an issue.
The DfE could ensure that your preferred outcomes are built into the Nature Premium proposal.
and schools would have extra capacity to deliver the Nature Premium outcomes with financial and practical support to work outside, particularly when COVID-19 is an ongoing issue.
I know the sort of pressure that schools have been working under, but the Nature Premium would reduce some of that pressure not only by providing financial support but by co-ordinating with the Take the Learning Inside Out Coalition (as you will know this includes over 50 outdoor education and conservation organisations including the wildlife Trusts and RSPB) and with other NGOs such as the WWF who could supply immediate expertise and free resources.
I know that schools are autonomous and can spend their budget as they see fit and teach the curriculum the way they wish. You will be aware that there has been a significant increase in the schools calling for support from the Outdoor education advisors and also Head Teachers have wanted to respond to their children’s call to take climate emergency action in the light of the recent news of extreme weather events and the upcoming Cop26. The Nature Premium would support these and give schools the finance and opportunity to engage in nature experiences that are best for all of their children. On the 19th March you said that it is vital that pupils are taught about environmental and sustainability issues. The Nature Premium would ensure that all children continue to learn about these issues throughout their school life rather than only if they engage with science and geography topics.
In our correspondence you have agreed with the importance of children playing outside and your officials have fully accepted the benefit to children’s mental wellbeing of spending time in nature. In addition the Nature Premium proposal is in line with:
the Government’s strategic document A Green Future: Our 25 year plan to improve the environment that prioritises connecting children to nature.
recommendations in the HM Treasury commissioned report the Dasgupta Review that calls to transform how we educate children about the natural world.
recommendations from The Committee for Climate Change’s report to increase public awareness of the need to achieve Net Zero and the impact of the climate emergency.
The DEFRA commissioned National Food Strategy Review and.
Educating around the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with only 9 years remaining to achieve government commitments.
It would also support education recommendations of The Environment Audit Committee’s first report Biodiversity in the UK: bloom or bust?
Finally it is in line with the UNESCO World Conference 2021 - Berlin Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development.
I hope that you agree with me that the Nature Premium is a good news story. I know Gavin Williamson has a meeting with MockCop26 and Teach The Future on Monday to discuss getting education ministers and environment ministers meeting together to make a joint statement. The Nature Premium would answer the ‘urgency of now’ and demonstrate intent that would support children in the build up to COP26. You will know that research has shown that children spiral into despair when they don’t see adults taking action about the climate emergency. On the 30th April 2019 you made a speech and said We need to take action, and be seen to take action, to deal with this generation’s greatest challenge: the devastating impact of climate change.
I hope you will agree that the Nature Premium would help fulfil your own call to action. It would be fair to all children and work to level up urban and rural communities creating added benefit to those children from low income and ethnic minority families. I hope you will agree that by working together we can build a private/public coalition to fund the Nature Premium in the year of COP26. It would provide an international lead to other countries and a fabulous legacy that has the potential to transform a generation.
We had a meaningful discussion, the DfE officials said what they were doing for COP26 and confirmed the interest from schools. Nick Gibb said that the NP couldn’t use any government money and it would have to be knowledge rich. I said that we wanted the DfE’s expertise so we could cost out the NP properly and that in my experience time in nature inspired children to want to know more.
So we agreed the next step would be a meeting with the DfE official (head of Sustainability) to talk further. Sara mentioned the Woman’s Hour interview and Nick Gibb said that she could certainly say that we had had a constructive discussion.
