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The purpose of Nelson Nature School is first and foremost to get as many kids as we can Outdoors, as often as we can, and truely connecting with nature (not just passively being there). During the 1Day/week sessions or Holiday programmes we have limited spots due to ratios, student availability, and time constraints...
that's where our school partnerships come in.
We welcome and would love, LOVE to work with local schools and organisations that support children ages 4-12. That can look many different ways depending on the school's goals. There are a few models seen around the world which we can base our relationship on:
For schools
in which the class comes out to our site. We have experienced staff who can deliver sessions on bush skills, physical challenges, games, safety & risk assessment growth, emotional and relational facilitations, ephemeral land art, etc.
We request support from teachers at a 1:12 ratio so that our facilitator can focus on teaching and general safety. We want this to link with what your students are learning at school and to be easy for you so please reach out for a chat.
This can happen within the familiarity of their playground or local park. There are lots of activities we can bring to you: sensory related, leave no trace and sustainability focused, creating birdfeeders / minigardens/etc., local flora and fauna ID, personal values and identity... Ideally we can go to your local park and run a session there.
is our preferred system as we see the most growth and confidence in tamariki. Generally this would mean it's in the timetable as, say, an afternoon once a week for the same group of children. This enables us to build that sense of Belonging and Kaitiakitanga over time, and it shows a real prioritisation of students' emotional-mental-physical health as a consistent thread.
This session can happen during or outside of classroom hours (i.e. lunch time). The main drive for this is getting kids thinking outside the box, repurposing items that'd normally be thrown away and bringing in novelty. This event has a lot of research behind it and is offered in many places around Aotearoa. Click here to read on how it links to children's play urges and schema.
Please let us know a couple of weeks ahead of time if this is something you could see happening in your school.
Please reach out for prices or for policies and procedures, as it will depend on numbers, location preferred and availability. We aim to make this as accessible as feasibly possible.
RAMS forms can be made available, as can any info needed to assess if this is right for your goals and students. Wednesdays and Thursdays are unavailable for now, due to the running of the 1 Day/Weekly sessions (if this is the only option for you, email us, one never knows!).
