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We believe every child should experience an immersive week in nature – as a rite of passage, rather than a journey for the fortunate few.

We invite you to watch our Strategic Story Video to witness how an OWL has helped young people on a journey towards nature connection.

A Pathway Towards Personal Growth

I was able to get dirty
and learn from it!

We fund immersive Outdoor Weeks of Learning (OWLs) at Outdoor Learning Centres for children and young people, giving them a unique opportunity to explore nature, while living and learning together.

Each OWL offers participants the chance to engage in a range of exciting activities, designed around our programme aims.

We work with targeted schools to ensure that we are enabling children and young people with the highest level of needs to benefit from a residential week in nature.

I noticed nature. It was lovely.
How we collaborate
Collaboration graphic
By sharing best practice with other providers, we hope to move the outdoor education sector forward and ultimately give more children lifelong memories of being in nature and a sense of hope for their future.
Jamie Feilden, Chief Executive Officer of Jamie’s Farm
We support Schools

The OWL Collaboration is a funding-plus programme and takes a 360° approach to provide transport grants, teacher training grants and membership to the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom for each school participating in an OWL residential. We also offer bespoke advice on how schools can strengthen Outdoor Learning in their own education setting.

We partner with Outdoor Learning Centres

Outdoor Learning Centres are at the heart of The OWL Collaboration as they are central to the design and delivery of each Outdoor Week of Learning in their own, unique settings.

As well as partners in delivery, each Outdoor Learning Centre is an active member of The OWL Collaboration Network. Through this Network, we collaborate to share best practice and training opportunties, develop shared resources and use joint evaluation tools to collectively measure the impact of an OWL.

Our Outdoor Learning Centre partners:

Bore Place, The Commonwork Trust, Edenbridge, Kent
Countryside Education Trust, Beaulieu, Hampshire
Farms For City Children, Wick Court, Gloucestershire & Lower Treginnis, Pembrokeshire
Jamie’s Farm, in Bath, Hereford, Lewes & Monmouth
Lambourne End Centre, Lambourne End, Essex
Magdalen Farm, Chard, Somerset
Ufton Court Educational Trust, Englefield, Berkshire
The Shallowford Trust, Newton Abbot, Devon

When I told them about the residential next year some of them cried with excitement! Lots of them have never been outside of London and many have never spent a night away from home…
Participating School Head Teacher
Making a difference

Our Theory of Change

It feels like you're a bit alone with your thoughts.
Today was fun. I am currently sitting alone in the woods. When I lay down, I can feel the breeze push through my hair. I can hear birds and the wind in the trees and for once, I can't hear cars.
Nature brings people together.
Some children have smiled who have never smiled before.
I know I can stop wasting food.
I want to remember that I am important to nature and I can decide if my actions have positive or negative impacts on nature.
I've seen every single child grow and develop as a person who will have a positive impact on their community.
I'm going to tell all my friends and become a better person, like picking up rubbish such as glass, paper, metal, plastic and more.
Being outdoors makes me grateful that I am in this world and it makes me realise that nature is amazing!
They are truly brighter sparks after this experience; the personal growth has been immeasurable.

We know that a week spent outdoors can have a profound and lasting effect on young lives.

To demonstrate this, we monitor and evaluate an OWL’s effectiveness over time, across four fields of impact:

We also collect stories of significant change, using postcards, video diaries and reflective observations.

View our Research Poster, offering salient learnings from the first three years of the programme, as presented at the Nature Connection Conference at the University of Derby in June 2024:

OWL STORIES OF SIGNIFICANT CHANGE

We invite you to read these compelling stories of OWL residentials:
Join us
We believe every child should experience an immersive week in nature – as a rite of passage, rather than a journey for the fortunate few.
Schools

We’re delighted that OWL schools for 2023/24 have already been agreed with our Outdoor Learning partners. However, we are always interested to hear from schools working with underserved young people who might have an interest in participating in this programme in the future. If this is you, please contact us.

Outdoor Learning Centres

Whilst we are not currently seeking new Outdoor Learning Centre partners, we are always happy to hear from Outdoor Learning organisations with environmental or farm-based delivery at their core. If this is you, please contact us.

Funders

We believe an immersive week in nature is a rite of passage for all young people and we have high ambitions for our impact-driven programme to influence the policymakers of the future. If you feel you are a potential partner who could help amplify our voice, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us by email in the first instance.

We are grateful to the Dulverton Trust who support The OWL Collaboration and provide funding for Outdoor Weeks of Learning.