OASES won the schools and colleges category at the Environment Awards 2024!
The award recognises environmental initiatives within schools. Our project, Nature for Wellbeing, used funding from Durham Area Action Partnership to work with Durham schools to develop their wellbeing activities using outdoor environments. The approach used was Forest Bathing, which is a Japanese active form of mindfulness which involves walking and sensory activities, ‘bathing’ in the atmosphere of the natural environment. We worked with 9 schools, 8 primary and one SEND school, training teachers and school staff as Forest Bathing Leaders who delivered Forest Bathing sessions with over 170 children. The feedback about the impact of the programme on the children was extremely positive. The children were calmer and happier after the active outdoor Forest Bathing sessions in their local area, and the children expressed how they had enjoyed the sessions and found them beneficial to their wellbeing.
