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Forests Without Frontiers partners with The Children’s Forest to bring children into nature to plant trees.

We support environmental education and nature experiences for youth through our partnership with the The Children’s Forest an organisation that promotes children’s wellbeing by providing them with the opportunity to envision and create a positive future by planting trees. Over six days in 2022, FWF supported 60 children from Hailsham Primary Academy to spend a day and a half deeply immersed in nature.

Research has shown the calming effects of nature on the nervous system, and the benefits of being outside in the wild, for even a short time, quickly become clear, with children excitedly engaging with their surrounds, lapping up new knowledge and proudly planting their trees (a mix of native species from hawthorn to oak).

“It’s so special to watch the children plant trees with such care,” said Hailsham Primary Academy teaching assistant Mrs Peters. “They may live in or close to the countryside but most of them have never experienced it like this – taking their shoes off, playing in the soil, lighting fires. It’s something that will really stay with them, and they will be able to come back year after year, and maybe even bring their own children one day!”

We also supported the creation of a medicine forest at Wowo campsite in Sussex in partnership with Children’s Forest.

As part of our ongoing commitment to young people in Sussex, FWF also supported two environment graduates from Sussex University with paid opportunities assisting in planting and tending 2,000 trees at Wilderlands.