Nature Connections

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Project Partners:
Andy Barrett, Excavate
Matt Bunn, Nottingham College
Sam Musgrave, Friends of Colwick Woods
Raffa Baldo, Mammoth Climate Action Cinema

Summary: This project will create a citywide online audio‑visual learning resource for primary schools, centred on trees in Colwick Woods, Nottingham’s largest nature reserve and a site of ancient woodland and rich biodiversity. The resource will combine photography, film, interviews, and storytelling to explore children’s relationships with trees, woods, and the natural world.

In May, ten photography and film students will document a selection of veteran trees within Colwick Woods. Two local primary school groups will then visit the site, taking part in creative writing activities inspired by these trees. Children will be invited to nominate and “adopt” a tree, giving it a name and documenting it through photography, simple scientific investigation, and storytelling. Their contributions will be added to the growing digital resource.

Students’ photographs will be exhibited at Surface Gallery in June, and later at Mammoth Cinema, accompanied by written work developed with participating schools. Between July and September, Andy and Matt, working with University of Nottingham students, will produce the final online resource, which will be made freely available to every school in the city.

The project will also invite Nature Connections partners to engage with the tree trail and creative activities, supporting The Friends of Colwick Woods in encouraging increased school visits to the site and fostering long‑term connections with local woodland.

Project Partners:
Lucy Blackburn, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Primary, Bulwell
Rebekah Johnston, textile artist
Nicola Curzon, Bulwell Arts Festival/One Vision Partnership

Summary: Creative, nature‑inspired textile project involving all year groups from KS1 and KS2 at Our Ladys of Perpetual Succour. Together, they’ll create a large quilted hanging to be displayed indoors or hung from a natural branch, led by Artist Rebekah Johnston. 

The project begins with pupils exploring plants, flowers and trees found in the Bulwell area, alongside plants connected to their own cultural heritage. This research phase encourages curiosity, observation and discussion, helping children explore their personal connection to nature, whilst celebrating the school’s diverse community. KS1 pupils will produce simple plant drawings using fabric pens, while KS2 pupils will create more detailed drawings and collages.

Rebekah will then lead four textile workshops over two days with pupils in Years 3 to 6. Each year group will be responsible for one quilt panel, incorporating KS1 artwork alongside fabric collage, painting and simple stitching, ensuring every child contributes to the final piece.

Throughout the process, children will be encouraged to share their ideas and stories about nature, supporting confidence, teamwork and creative expression. The completed quilt will be displayed within the school and showcased publicly during Bulwell Arts Festival’s Global Day (Sat 11thJuly, 1-5, Bulwell Hall Park), creating a lasting celebration of children’s voices, creativity and connection to nature.

Project Partners:
Green Hustle
Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature 

Summary: Rooted is a poetry project inviting young people to explore their connection to nature, place, and social justice through creative writing. Working with three Nottingham secondary schools — Djanogly City Academy, Bluecoat Aspley Academy, and Stone Soup Academy — the project will engage Year 10 students (ages 14–15) in workshops that stories of people and place, care and consequence, resilience and possibility.

Led by Nature Poet Laureate Cara Thompson and poet‑educator Jay Sandhu, the workshops introduce students to poetry, from diverse global traditions, that explores humanity’s relationship with the natural world, intersectionality, and the disproportionate impacts of the environmental crisis on marginalised communities. Through reading, discussion and writing, young people will be supported to reflect on their own cultural heritage, identities and experiences.

The project is shaped around the Five Pathways to Nature Connection, activating sensory awareness, emotional engagement, meaning‑making, appreciation of beauty, and compassion. Students will write their own poems in response to the themes explored, with all work valued and amplified through publication in a student anthology and zine. Selected poems will be showcased publicly, with one winning poem painted as a permanent mural in Nottingham city centre as part of a wider project.

Workshops will take place in April 2026, followed by public showcases across festivals and cultural venues through June 2026.

The project will produce: 

1. A digital learning pack featuring poetry examples, creative prompts, footage from the in-school workshops and expanded learning that uses the five pathways to nature connection.  To be shared via the Cultural Rucksack to all Nottingham schools and Nottingham College, globally through UNESCO Cities of Literature networks. 

2. A detailed case study 

3. A published anthology of student poems showcasing young people's environmental perspectives. 

4. Workshop methodology demonstrating how literary arts can deepen ecological awareness and inspire climate action among young people.