Prof Marcus Grace and Dr Andri Christodoulou hosted the first Environmental Education Network meeting for Southampton Primary Schools at Southampton Education School, University of Southampton on 7^th June 2022.

This network meeting is part of the ‘Consolidating the Wild Citizens project’ funded by the Faculty of Social Sciences under the ‘Interdisciplinary Research Pump Priming Fund’ Call.

The network meeting was an opportunity for environmental educators in formal and non-formal settings in Southampton, as well as Southampton City Council representatives to come together to discuss ideas for how we can work more closely together in a sustainable way to promote environmental education across Southampton’s primary schools, and to support the development of best practices in this area.

During the meeting, participants had the opportunity to hear about the PERu-funded Wild Citizens project by Andri Christodoulou and the activities that have been implemented as part of this project from Kanes Hill Primary’s science lead Steve James. Guest speakers also included Samantha Munslow from Southampton City Council, who provided an overview of the Council’s biodiversity activities and Green City Plan 2030, Steve Bowles, who shared his experiences of developing and implementing environmental education programmes in primary schools in Southampton, Mac Ince from Sholing Valleys Study Centre and Helen Robinson from the New Forest National Park sharing information about their environmental education and engagement activities respectively,  and finally Jess Spurrell sharing information about how the University of Southampton can support University-school partnerships with a focus on environmental education activities.

The scope, objectives and membership of the Network were discussed sharing many useful ideas for taking these activities forward, ways of sharing best practices, and of supporting teachers and schools to develop their environmental education provision.

For further information on the Network’s activities and to join our next meeting please contact: Marcus Grace or Andri Christodoulou.