TGC

TGC WINNER 'Education & Learning Team of the Year' at School Travel Awards 2021! Reconnecting people with nature

Charity & non-profit organisation providing urban communities with outdoor experiences to encourage active lifestyles, promote self-discovery & stimulate respect for nature.

🌳A Year in Urban Forest School: Fabulous Fairy Fires. 🌳When introducing fire to children, we often start with small “fai...
15/03/2026

🌳A Year in Urban Forest School: Fabulous Fairy Fires. 🌳

When introducing fire to children, we often start with small “fairy fires” to enable them to start developing an understanding of how fire is made and how to stay safe around it.

The spark, or “dragon’s breath” the fire-steel makes never fails to inspire awe and wonder in the children and it is a great way to start teaching about the concept of the fire triangle. Despite their enthusiasm, mastering the tool can be tough and create frustration and disappointment.

Supporting children to overcome these emotions, and persevere to achieve their goal is a wonderful part of being a UFS leader.

For details on the study cited see Dabaja, Z.F., (2022). The Forest School impact on children: reviewing two decades of research. Education 3-13, 50(5), pp.640–653. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2021.1889013.

🌿 This week at Market Rd Gardens, we’re getting stuck into planting native hedging donated by We’ve been putting in nat...
12/03/2026

🌿 This week at Market Rd Gardens, we’re getting stuck into planting native hedging donated by

We’ve been putting in native saplings like Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Hazel, Wild cherry, Elder, Dog rose and dogwood to create a “wildlife corridor” around the boundary of the park. A good hedge is a larder, a nursery, and a residential road all in one for the birds, pollinators, hedgehogs, and woodmice.
Join us next time!

☀️Gardening in the Spring sunshine is such a great opportunity to switch off, and notice all the buds coming up and birds at work.

All welcome to our community gardening sessions each week..

Zero Experience Needed: We’ll show you exactly how to plant a “whip” (a young tree). It’s simpler than it looks! Come for ten minutes or the whole morning.

The Details:
📍 Where: Market Road Gardens
⏰ When: Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10am to 12pm
☕ Note: We’ll be putting the kettle on around 11.30
🥾 Wear: Sturdy shoes and comfortable clothing

In the meantime see if you can spot these
🌿 Hedgerow Heroes :

• Hawthorn: The “May-tree.” First in leaf (now) Its dense thorns provide the perfect “burglar-proof” protection for nests.

• Blackthorn: Famous for its sloe berries and frothy white spring blossom. The flowers appear before the leaves.

• Hazel: Look for the “lamb’s tail” catkins hanging in the breeze.

🌳AYear in Urban Forest School: Topsy Turvy Upside Down.🌳🌿Physical challenges are a key part of our Urban Forest School s...
07/03/2026

🌳AYear in Urban Forest School: Topsy Turvy Upside Down.🌳

🌿Physical challenges are a key part of our Urban Forest School sessions as we know how improving children’s gross motor skills will benefit them in so many ways.

🌿Using the trees as our anchor we create opportunities to balance, hang, pull and swing with activities that improve strength but also push children to use their body in new and unfamiliar ways.

🌿It’s so wonderful to see children’s confidence grow week on week and their joy when a challenge is achieved.

📍For details on the study cited see Coates, J., 2019. Physical development through outdoor play: The example of Forest School. In: R. Duncombe, ed. The Physical Development Needs of Young Children [Online]. 1st edn. United Kingdom: Routledge, pp.172–184. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429469831-14.https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2023.2285762

🌸 This week at Market Road Gardens, we’ve been busy in the sunshine ☀️ - working on strengthening deadwood hedges with n...
05/03/2026

🌸 This week at Market Road Gardens, we’ve been busy in the sunshine ☀️ - working on strengthening deadwood hedges with new stakes🪓 🪵 planting snowdrops in the green 🌱 and planting new native wildlife hedges from the 💫 🌸 🐦 🐝 🍃

Join us! There’s no need to be an expert gardener – we provide all tools and gloves —just bring yourself and enjoy the fresh air.

📍 Where: Market Road Gardens
⏰ When: Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10am to 12pm
☕ Note: We’ll be putting the kettle on around 11.30

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow” 🌿 Audrey Hepburn

👋Join us for Wellbeing Walks this Spring and Summer 2026. 🌱All walks are free to attend🌱Led by Viv and Cat from The Gard...
03/03/2026

👋Join us for Wellbeing Walks this Spring and Summer 2026.

🌱All walks are free to attend

🌱Led by Viv and Cat from The Garden Classroom team

🌱Specially designed walks for people aged 50+ 

🌱Gentle walks exploring nature and wellbeing 

🌱Walks last around 1 hour at a gentle pace with plenty of stops along the way

🌱Each walk ends with light refreshments.

Dates and meeting points:

🌳Friday 6th March 13:30-14:30pm Caledonian Park, N7 9HF

🌳Friday 13th March 13:30-14:30pm Gillespie Park, N5 1PH

🌳Friday 20th March 13:30-14:30pm Whittington Park and Foxham Gardens, N19 4RS

🌳Friday 27th March 13:30-14:30pm Newington Green, N1 4RF

🌳Friday 17th April 13:30-14:30pm, New River Path, N1 2QP

🌳Friday 22nd April 13:30-14:30pm St John’s Gardens, EC1M 6BY

🌳Friday 1st May 13:30-14:30pm Highbury Fields Wildlife Garden, N5 1RD

🌳Friday 8th May 13:30-14:30pm Thornhill Road Gardens and Barnard Park, N1 0LU

Free places can be booked via Eventbrite.

You are also welcome to just turn up on the day! 

For more information email: [email protected]

🌳A Year in Urban Forest School: Sensational Storytelling.🌳📚While nature based books are sometimes the inspiration for ou...
27/02/2026

🌳A Year in Urban Forest School: Sensational Storytelling.🌳

📚While nature based books are sometimes the inspiration for our forest school leaders’ sessions, our facilitators often also share stories from folkore.

🌿Do you know the story of Mother Elder? Or the Green Man? By telling stories inspired by nature, in nature, children are immersed in the setting - able to see, smell and touch elements of the stories they are listening to.

They experience the rich heritage of story as a way to celebrate and make sense of natural cycles such as the seasons. Storytelling is also an amazing vehicle to teach about the flora and fauna of the urban parks we work in, as well as stewardship of this wonderful planet.

📍For more on storytelling see Parkinson (2011) Storytelling and Imagination:Beyond Basic Literacy 8–14, London: Routledge

🍄 Life in the logs 🪵 Have you ever noticed how much life is hidden in a “dead” log? Our garden’s woodpiles🪵 are currentl...
27/02/2026

🍄 Life in the logs 🪵

Have you ever noticed how much life is hidden in a “dead” log? Our garden’s woodpiles🪵 are currently hosting an amazing display of fungi—the garden’s ultimate recycling team.

Come join us at Market Road Gardens to help build deadwood habitat.

Why join?
• For nature: Help us look after the delicate wood-wide web that keeps our garden thriving.
• For you: Gardening is a great way to switch off. There’s no pressure to be an expert—just a chance to enjoy being outdoors and observe the changes in the garden.

What to wear: Boots or old trainers and comfortable clothing; zero experience needed, we provide tools and gloves.

📍 Where: Market Road Gardens
⏰ When: Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10am to 12pm
☕ Note: We always put the kettle on after all the hard work!

Ready to inspire the next generation of nature lovers? 🌿Join The Garden Classroom as a volunteer! Work alongside Forest ...
25/02/2026

Ready to inspire the next generation of nature lovers? 🌿

Join The Garden Classroom as a volunteer! Work alongside Forest School leaders and gain hands-on experience in environmental education. Whether you’re looking for a career change or just want to swap screen time for sunshine, we’d love to have you.

At the heart of every community garden is its compost heap. Providing a place for worms, slugs, beetles, bacteria, fung...
23/02/2026

At the heart of every community garden is its compost heap. Providing a place for worms, slugs, beetles, bacteria, fungi, micro organisims...... to work their magic and turn our garden waste into glorious, nutrious compost.

Join our Urban Food Growing sessions, and learn more about composting, seed sowing, planting and harvesting.

Everyone is welcome. No experiene needed.

Sessions run Thursdays, 10am to 12pm, at St Judes Street Commuity Garden, N16 8JT.

🌳A Year in Urban Forest School: Mud, Glorious Mud!🌳🌿The levels of mud have been pretty intense this half term and for ma...
20/02/2026

🌳A Year in Urban Forest School: Mud, Glorious Mud!🌳

🌿The levels of mud have been pretty intense this half term and for many adults and children, this can be a real struggle. While mud can make us uncomfortable, it can also open up a new world of play.

🌿Puddle jumping, mud painting, mud kitchens and mud moulding are all activities children are drawn to in our sessions. Although the clear up can be tough, the joy these opportiunities bring is priceless!

🌿For details on the study cited see: Somerville, M. and Powell, S.J., 2019. Thinking posthuman with mud: and children of the Anthropocene. Educational philosophy and theory [Online], 51(8), pp.829–840. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2018.1516138.

🌳A Year in Urban Forest School: All Hail to the Hammock!🌳A hammock may seem like simply a place to rest, but within our ...
13/02/2026

🌳A Year in Urban Forest School: All Hail to the Hammock!🌳

A hammock may seem like simply a place to rest, but within our sessions it offers so much more. For many of the children we work with this will be their first experience of one. We love to see how their confidence grows session on session.

While some may struggle with taking turns or being gentle at first, weekly exposure in free flow enables them to navigate social negotiations.

As well as the hammock’s versatility to be a place to swing a friend or calmly stare up at the trees, experiencing its motion supports children to develop their balance.

For details on the study cited see: Cooke, E., Thorpe, K., Clarke, A., Houen, S., Oakes, C. and Staton, S., 2020. “Lie in the grass, the soft grass”: Relaxation accounts of young children attending childcare. Children and youth services review [Online], 109. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104722.

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Newington Green
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N14RF

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+442072880188

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