20th October 2026, Hosted at Bevois Town Primary School

Bevois Town School – Forest School Tour
Hannah Boussot, teacher and sustainability lead at Bevois Town Primary School

Hannah  enjoyed showing SEEN members around the school grounds and talking them through the changes to our outdoor spaces over the last 3 years. Hannah was keen to stress the importance of involving the children in the process and, where possible, parents and the wider community. Highlights include the forest school area, wild pollinator zone, fruit trees and flower beds. The children have conducted biodiversity surveys to help measure the impact of their actions which has helped them take ownership of the projects. Hannah explained the key part that external organisations have played in this process, such as Learning Through Landscapes, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and the National Education Nature Park. Bevois Town Primary are always happy to hear from other organisations who would like to come and work with us so please do get in contact.

Playful Green Planet
Rebecca Kinge, Community worker and Director of Southampton Collective CIC, 

Thanks for listening to me about our new Playful Green Planet in Shirley programme, which we are called Exploring Shirley. This is monthly outdoor activities for 0-11 year olds for 2 years in the area around Shirley Towers/Wordsworth school with a theme of connecting with nature and ecological citizenship. If you have ideas of what could be effective, what partnerships we should be developing etc, and how to make sure children are co-creating the ideas, please drop them on our padlet which we set up for today’s meeting. https://padlet.com/rebecca1431/playful-green-planet-shirley-s024omddf3i1yd9mw9y3 Or get in touch!

You asked me to forward information about the Southampton Climate Action Network. Our next seasonal gathering is on 14 Jan 5-7pm at St Marys Leisure Centre and you are very welcome. Check out our events calendar for other climate and nature activities and add any events you have heard about.

We also have our Hands On Nature event on Sat 31 Oct in Hoglands Park for children. Grateful for any publicity, particularly in places which reach city centre and places close to the city centre including Bevois.

Natural Textures with Yarrow ‘Millie’ Townsend.

Focusing on natural textures can be a great way to expand vocabulary and help learners tune in to their senses.

Millie brought small objects into the classroom for us to write about: spiky holly, smoothe stones and crunchy seeds pods. We imagined what it would be like to be very small, crawling along their surface. We also talked about local places that might enable learners to explore new textures. Many of us liked the idea of coastal or watery places to allow a sensory writing experience, though we commented on how this might also be an opportunity to explore persuasive writing around poor water quality!

Millie also told us about her work with local schools (including Bevois Town) in a new project ‘Writing with Horses’, where she is exploring how hands-on practical work and therapeutic time with animals supports confidence with writing and also connecting with nature (for example, writing about meadow plants through the eyes of a horse). She’s on the lookout for funding to reach more schools, so if you can help or if you’re interested in the sessions please email yarrowtownsendauthor@gmail.com You can also read her blog about textures and writing workshops here https://yarrowtownsend.substack.com/