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Education
Education is a crucial aspect of Kew’s work. The fate of the world’s environment will depend to a great extent on the actions and decisions of future generations, so it is essential to inspire an appreciation and understanding of nature in today’s children. Direct contact with the
natural environment is a novel and very enjoyable experience for most children,
and often greatly enriches the overall value of the education they receive.
The Schools Education Programme caters for over 45,000 school children each year, both at Kew itself and Wakehurst Place. Many of the children who take part are from urban areas and have had little or no contact with the natural world. Our aim is to open their eyes to the importance of plants in our everyday lives while enriching their learning experience.
Plants are the ideal educational tools and the programme shows how plants can be used in virtually every subject across the curriculum. Our approach is designed to make learning fun through workshops such as Shipwreck Survival, where children learn how plants can be used for food, water,
clothing, medicine and shelter. Herbs, Spices and the Spice Traders provides information not only on the plants themselves, but also on the culture and history of the people involved.
Many students are not able to visit Kew or Wakehurst Place, so we visit them with our specially designed mobile classroom – the Kewmobile. Our Outreach programme supports education initiatives all over the country by highlighting the importance of the local environment in conservation.
Your donation would help Kew to provide a full suite of environmental education courses and to emphasise the importance of plants – the basis of all life on Earth – to all.