GovWire

The Department for Education has made available a 15 million grant to support young people in getting outdoors and learning about the natural world. The funding can be used to:

• buy equipment or teaching tools, such as acoustic listening devices
• help with the purchase of outdoor equipment and clothing
• create outdoor teaching areas
• provide accessible routes to nature in schools for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities

Education settings are eligible for a grant if they:

• submitted a school-level census return in the autumn term of the 2021 to 2022 academic year
• are located in a lower-tier local authority, assessed as a category 1 levelling up area by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in the second round of the Levelling Up Fund
• are located in a lower-layer super output area (LSOA) in category 1 of Natural Englands Accessible Natural Greenspace Inequalities indicator as per its Green Infrastructure Map which is a combined measure of deprivation and access to natural greenspace (less than 5% of the LSOA is covered by or within 300 metres of accessible natural green space, and the LSOA is in the lowest 2 deciles of the Index of Multiple Deprivation