School grounds
It is estimated that, nationally, school grounds make up 5% of all built up areas. These grounds are usually intensively managed for sport and recreation and are often impoverished habitats for wildlife, consisting mainly of hard surfacing, closely grown amenity grassland and sports fields with small standard trees and well trimmed hedges. However, many schools have small nature areas or gardens which may include a pond or small meadow, native shrubs and trees, compost heaps and vegetable beds.
In the Tees Valley, School Grounds is a Habitat Action Plan because they are the green spaces where most children spend the majority of their outdoor experiences and there is great potential for both enhancing the biodiversity of school grounds and creating outdoor classrooms where children can learn about their natural environment. Programmes such as Eco Schools involve pupils in educational projects to increase the biodiversity of their school grounds.
