Ravenshall School: edible hedgerows for outdoor learning

Bringing learning to life

Ravenshall School is a large special day school catering to students with complex learning difficulties and other special educational needs. The school’s forest school and vegetable garden play a vital role in hands-on education, encouraging students to connect with nature.

A new 142-metre edible hedgerow and fruit trees have been planted to enhance this outdoor learning environment. They provide students with the chance to observe growing through the seasons, harvest fruit, learn about natural food sources and use the produce they grow.

Ravenshall School students get their hands dirty planting a hedgerow and trees in their forest school and vegetable garden. Credit: White Rose Forest.

Good enough to eat

The new hedgerow has been planted around the perimeter of the forest school area, meaning students can interact with the plants during outdoor lessons. The selection of edible species includes:

• bramble, redcurrant, blackcurrant, raspberry, crab apple and jostaberry for fruit production
• hornbeam and hazel for structure.

Larger fruit trees have been planted to provide even more opportunities for learning and harvesting. The hedgerow and trees also provide essential food and shelter for wildlife in an urban setting, supporting biodiversity within the school grounds.

White Rose Forest project officer, James Skipper, helps a Ravenshall School student, Jordan, plant part of the edible hedgerow. Credit: White Rose Forest

Funding and community support

The project was made possible through support from the White Rose Forest team, who helped design the planting scheme and provided funding via their Trees for Climate programme, part of Defra’s Nature for Climate Fund. The school provided further funding for additional hedgerow plants.

Local organisation Fruitworks CIC worked alongside students and teachers to plant the trees and hedgerows, making it a truly hands-on and inclusive experience for the school community.

Outdoor learning for life

Nature-based education is great for getting students outdoors and learning about their environment. These hedgerows and trees will now provide environmental learning opportunities for years to come.

Be part of the Northern Forest

Want to plant trees? Whether you’re creating new woodland or extending an existing site, you can reap a whole host of extra benefits.

• Boost biodiversity.
• Provide shelter.
• Protect your soil.
• Fight flooding.

Your new trees could be part of the Northern Forest and make a difference for people, wildlife and the environment in the North of England.