Outdoor Essentials Grants for UK Schools

Grants are available to UK state funded Primary and Secondary schools to enable them to get their pupils learning outdoors.

The COVID pandemic has underlined the importance being outdoors is to the mental and physical wellbeing of everyone. It has also highlighted inequalities in people’s abilities to access the outdoors.

Research commissioned by The Ernest Cook Trust has identified that transport costs are a key barrier for schools to access Outdoor Learning. In response to this, the Trust are providing grants to schools in the UK help remove these barriers to the outdoors.

This grant supports school travel and transport costs to any centre or provider that can facilitate these ambitions, including: outdoor learning centres, forest schools, countryside parks, woodlands, national parks, farm parks, farms (including city farms), coastal areas and beaches.

Trips to outdoor adventure centres for outdoor activities (such as kayaking and climbing) may be considered, but nature connection and environmental learning must be the primary focus.

Applications are accepted from UK state funded Primary and Secondary schools. This includes:

  • Any UK state funded Ofsted Registered Primary, Middle, Secondary or High school
  • Any UK state funded Special or Alternative Provision School
  • Multi Academy Trusts, but applications must be made by the individual schools

Priority will be given to:

  • Schools who are committed to enabling Outdoor Learning and see environmental engagement as an important part of education
  • Schools who can demonstrate that Outdoor Learning has a wider benefit to families and their local community
  • Schools with disadvantaged pupils
  • Schools that are located in areas of high deprivation and/or have pupils who are living in challenging circumstances

Grants of £500 per school are available.

This grant opportunity will be available three times in 2021.

The current round is now open and 180 grants will be available. The application window will close when sufficient grant applications have been approved.