Nature Builders
Overview
Mondays and Thursdays from 3.30-5.30pm (starting 9 September, excluding January/February)
Location: The Up Garden, Forest Gate (Eric Close Laundry Yard, Forest Gate, London, E7 0AY)
Age range: School years 3-6
Nature Builders is an urban forest school based in Forest Gate. Sessions are led by Forest School facilitator and local parent Laura Zotova, and will take place in term time throughout the school year 2024-25 (excluding January/February).
At Nature Builders, children will learn:
About “green culture” through exploring local nature
About British wildlife and their habitats
Why we need habitats and how we can help them survive.
Children will also engage with arts, crafts and games using elements from nature, teaching practical bushcraft skills, using songs and story-telling to educate about nature-based ancient British culture (Celtic/Anglo-Saxon paganism) and how it survives in modern celebrations (Easter/solstices). The sessions create a safe spaces to discuss feelings and will include mindfulness and well-being activities to support good mental health, while games and activities will address physical health.
Nature Builders brings together children from different schools and backgrounds, who may not have the chance to socialise otherwise, strengthening our sense of community. They also benefit their families, in that they provide free after school sessions, which we hope will relieve some financial stress during the current cost of-living crisis.
Location
Most sessions will be held at the UP Garden, which is a formerly abandoned laundry yard in a council estate in Forest Gate. The garden was reclaimed and transformed by local residents into an Royal Horticultural Society-award winning community space for socialising, playing, gardening and learning. It is a constituted, unregistered, non-profit association.
What is the Shaped by Community commission?
The Shaped by Community commission called for projects that will enrich the creative experience within Newham and provide opportunities for residents to engage in artistic and cultural activity. Our organisation has a strong focus on ensuring that the work we support is shaped by what communities across Newham need and want.
We held an open call to apply for up to £15,000 each for six projects.
To us, ‘Shaped by Community’ means that your community’s wants and needs have guided all levels and stages of the project, including in the decision-making.
Newham is full of creative communities that have rich, cultural experience to share. This commission aims to create space for people to create and be celebrated within this borough that we call home.
Meet the rest of the projects on the Shaped by Community project page.
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