BE Inspired 2023-24

BE INSPIRED PROGRAMME

Our BE Inspired programme is focused on connection and well-being and is the perfect opportunity for your group to connect with nature here at Belmont.

Who is it for?

BE Inspired is aimed at a smaller group of up to 12 children/young people, identified by you, that would particularly benefit from spending time connecting with nature, each other and themselves. Past groups have included young carers; looked after children; children with social, emotional and mental health needs; children who have been excluded from mainstream education and children who have no access to outdoor natural spaces in their day-to-day lives.

Please book 6 visits for your group so they visit once a term.

Our BE Inspired programme has very limited availability and is only available to a few settings each year. If a school fails to book all six visits or if they cancel more than once, their place may be offered to another setting.

We believe in the restorative and therapeutic power of nature and we know that giving people regular and meaningful access to wild and natural spaces has a positive and long-lasting impact on their emotional, social and physical wellbeing. We don’t mind if we get a bit muddy, wet or tired; we want everyone to experience the thrill and adventure of playing in nature!

"Everyone loved this day out including adults. Staff were experienced in meeting the student's needs and understood their SEMH requirements. We cannot wait to come back !" - Class teacher at Lime Hills Academy

"Our students have shown a real change in confidence during our visits" Pastoral Lead at Hanham Woods Academy

Overview of BE Inspired days

This year-long, immersive experience is designed to enhance your student's connection to themselves, each other and nature: building confidence, self-esteem and a sense of wellbeing, as a part of nature. Throughout the year, students will take part in holistic activities that include bush craft skills, arts and crafts, and land management; they will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of a whole range of natural processes and build a stronger connection to nature and a sense of belonging at Watercress Farm.

Children will begin each visit with a Wild Walking Safari, including greeting the free-range animals before enjoying the rest of their visit in our riverside woodland and meadows, in our purpose built education areas. With a mixture of prepared activities, planning in the moment and facilitated free-play, our child-led approach encourages children to let their imaginations 'BE Inspired' as they explore and learn. Every session will include a snack that is shared as a group, usually cooked on the campfire.

For example, one visit may find students observing calving season while their next visit could find them knee-deep in the stream, carrying out wildlife surveys or cooking a campfire feast with wild and Belmont-grown ingredients. Each session will be focused heavily on wellbeing and will include times for quiet reflection and mindfulness. Whatever they are doing on the Estate, it is sure to provide them with experiences and memories they will carry with them back to school and into their lives.

Each visit will be themed around Nature’s Principles of Harmony – diversity, the cycle, oneness, adaptation, interdependence, health, and geometry. Using nature as our teacher, we learn about how the natural world relies on balance and harmony to function as one, healthy system.

The team at Belmont Estate remember the sense of excitement they had as children when allowed to climb trees, hunt for insects or paddle in streams and we want everyone who visits to feel the same!

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”