Tomorrow’s environment depends on today’s education, and educational schemes of work are integral to the practice of the South Yorkshire Forest.

Our dedicated education officer acts as a liaison with schools and works closely with organisations such as the Forestry Commission’s Forest Education Initiative, Sheffield Wildlife Trust, and the Working Woodlands Trust to provide teaching resources, school based workshops, green space activities, tree planting and environmental art events. These events aim to increase access to - and understanding of - the local environment and its associated heritage, as well as heightening awareness of the issues around sustainability and biodiversity. Many of the educational activities that we instigate relate to work on the ground, which helps us to achieve an important goal – keeping local communities fully engaged with our work.

In order to realise the educational and recreational benefits of South Yorkshire’s ancient woodlands, the South Yorkshire Forest Partnership made a successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Fuelling a Revolution project, which as well as carrying out large scale environmental improvements to 35 ancient woodland sites, enabled us to provide hundreds of educational events, teaching training sessions and resource packs. The dedicated website www.heritagewoodsonline.co.uk was also created within the scope of this project and offers an invaluable information source for anyone interested in the woods of South Yorkshire.

Tree 37 was a condemned tree in Sheffield’s Whitley Woods that inspired a whole programme of work – every element of which was used as an educational tool. A public tree-felling provided an opportunity to inform the community about good woodland management practices, and brought crafts people into the woods to demonstrate their skills and the diverse uses of timber. The wood from Tree 37 was given to local wood workers to produce pieces for an exhibition. Some artists also took the timber into local schools and worked with children to create art from the tree to stand in the school grounds. Parts of Tree 37 were used to make art, furniture, charcoal, household utensils and other useful or decorative items. All these processes were recorded in an educational DVD which is now being used by schools to bring environmentally related learning into the classroom.

back to the top >