Rotterdam’s first green schoolyard
The first school we went to was probably also the first school in Rotterdam to have a green schoolyard. In 2002, the principal of the Margrietschool decided that, for the sake of her pupils’ behaviour, it would be desirable to have more greenery in the schoolyard. She wanted to create a yard where children could have adventures, be allowed to get dirty and invent their own games. A natural play area where experience and adventure would come together. The familiar criticism of natural play areas, such as the mess they can bring into the school, clothes that can get dirty and the risks that may arise, was dismissed by the principal. For her, the positive effects on children’s behaviour and attitude carried more weight.
A plan was developed together with the neighbourhood, the pupils, the municipality and the school. After building support, a design was created that was eventually implemented. This resulted in Rotterdam’s first green schoolyard.
In the middle of a completely paved-over neighbourhood, water now flows through a man-made stream, children crawl through the mud, pupils skip through a flower garden and… a little paradise has been built.
The Margrietschool’s yard actually consists of a number of different areas. At the front of the school is the nature yard. A place where fallen tree trunks lie invitingly, waiting for children who regularly want to walk over them or crawl underneath them. A place where a hill has been created, with a beautifully flowering meadow on top, through which pupils can walk via cleverly designed paths without damaging the flowers, but where children can also hide perfectly well. A place where pupils use a pump to let water flow through a specially constructed stream. In short, a place that invites children to have adventures, feel the earth and truly play. A place where even adults are tempted to play hide-and-seek. And… the fun part is… they are allowed to! The yard at the front of the school is freely accessible to the entire neighbourhood. After school, children continue playing there, neighbours chat with one another and people enjoy the peace that such a yard brings.
A little farther on is a designated sports field. Apart from the artificial turf underneath it, greenery has no role here. Still, it is useful when you want to exercise outdoors with all 240 pupils while keeping the natural play area intact. Although my colleague points out that you can also create excellent sports facilities in such a green yard: “It all depends on the design.”
At the side of the school is the other part of the green schoolyard. This yard is intended as a natural play environment where equipment that is less desirable for the school may be used. The fences around it ensure that this section is properly separated for other visitors. The yard contains various items such as ropes, tyres and actual pallets. Pupils are free to play with these items, and it seems as though few restrictions have been placed on their play. One little boy was sitting in the crown of a tree, about 3 metres high, and had invented a wonderful game there. Shaking and picking, he enjoyed his throne-like spot, like Simba on the rock. And Ian, Jeroen, Cedric and I enjoyed watching him.
During the half hour we spent at the yard, I did not see a single quarrel or crying child among all the children who were playing. Various groups were busy with their own games. No one seemed bored.
What a wonderful start to our tour!
Full of enthusiasm, we continued our cycling trip through Rotterdam.
The green connection
We passed various green initiatives, which together are also known as the green connection (or the green web). These green initiatives connect not only nature, but also people! One of these initiatives is Essenburgpark: a piece of ‘wilderness’ initiated by citizens in the middle of the city. So wild that a fox was even spotted there recently.
The educational gardens at Essenburgsingel are also located near Essenburgpark. A place where schools can learn in and about the garden every week, under the guidance of staff from NatuurStad Rotterdam. In the past, around 90% of the schools in the area took part in this educational programme; nowadays, only about 20% participate. And that is despite the fact that the programme is offered free of charge and that transport to and from the garden was even arranged for schools. The exact reason for this decline has not been investigated, but factors such as a crowded curriculum, teachers’ lack of confidence and the setting of other priorities seem to be important causes of the decrease. In our view, this is a missed opportunity, because such a rich learning environment leads to meaningful education more quickly than the lessons currently delivered from books or interactive whiteboards.
That there are also teachers and principals who recognise the importance of such a rich learning environment is demonstrated, among other things, by a Rotterdam example that Jeroen told me about during our cycling trip. At Bloemhof primary school, pupils’ learning results had been inadequate for years. The school’s principal at the time, Wim Pak, investigated why the results were lagging behind. He discovered that there was hardly any connection between the subjects the pupils were taught and the world in which they lived. Their lessons consisted of a paper reality. The school decided to take action and created a broad and challenging (learning) environment. Since these changes, the pupils’ results at this school have improved significantly. Meaningful education is therefore created in a rich (meaningful) learning environment.
On the way to our next destination, we passed Thomas More University of Applied Sciences. Its courtyard was made greener about two years ago. This teacher-training college teaches future teachers how to teach outdoors as well. It also trains school teams from the region. Although this yard pales in comparison with the overall concept of the Margrietschool, and we openly wondered to what extent it forms part of a vision concerning green schoolyards and outdoor teaching, it is good to know that future teachers are at least introduced to the idea through their training.
De Speeldernis
After this stop, we went straight to De Speeldernis. Not only for the now much-needed cup of coffee, but especially because it is an incredibly compelling example of what nature can do for children who play and learn in a paved-over environment. De Speeldernis was established more than 20 years ago and, according to its own description, is the oldest nature playground in the Netherlands. At De Speeldernis, children can Learn to Play Naturally. And in the digital age in which we live, learning to play is, in my view, already urgently needed, not to mention learning to play naturally.
As a play area and knowledge centre in the city, De Speeldernis offers a welcoming, rugged nature playground where children learn through play about nature, their own physical abilities, cooperation and imagination. During school hours, environmental education lessons are given at De Speeldernis. After school, children can visit from an after-school care programme or with their families. De Speeldernis also supports schools that want to make their schoolyards greener. Ian, former director of De Speeldernis, regularly takes pupils and school teams to this location in his new role at IVN, allowing them to gain inspiration for the possibilities available. This helps pupils and teachers discover new opportunities and ideas that they themselves would like to realise in their own yards.
In this way, the green connection links not only people and nature, but even entire initiatives!
The Vlinder keeps fluttering onward
After visiting the jungle in the city described above, we went to De Vlinder primary school. A primary school located in the ‘Wild West’ of the Netherlands. De Vlinder is situated in a neighbourhood where things can get – to put it mildly – wild. Shooting incidents regularly take place in the vicinity of the school. About two weeks ago, an explosive was even detonated at the front door of a home near the school. Families in this neighbourhood face considerable pressure. Despite the often limited living space available to them, until recently parents kept their children indoors because playing outside was too dangerous and undesirable. The stone yard at the school was always littered and was used by drug dealers and loitering youths. So it was preferable to have five people hanging around in one small room rather than let your child walk around among them.
A few years ago, the idea was taken up to thoroughly transform De Vlinder’s yard. It was to become a green-blue location that could be used by both the school and the neighbourhood. Although local residents were initially sceptical, it was nevertheless decided to proceed. Together with the school, the limited space was used to its full potential. With hills, climbing equipment, many beautiful plants, a small watercourse (with a hand pump) and crawl-and-hide areas, an oasis of peace and enjoyment was created. Children have been playing outside here again for a long time!
The pressure on families is decreasing. The place has become a safe haven for families. The sceptical parents are now so proud of this place that they voluntarily clean up the little litter that is sometimes left there. Even the youths who hang around there, and occasionally smoke a joint, now clean up their rubbish after smoking! The principal of De Vlinder has also noticed a difference in the behaviour and social conduct of the pupils. Social conditions and the environment in this neighbourhood and at this school have improved considerably. I would also be interested in seeing the difference in learning outcomes. I bet that interventions of this kind can contribute positively to higher academic performance. And the great thing about a school like De Vlinder is that its vision for the yard keeps spreading. By now, another school, inspired by De Vlinder, has already taken significant steps to make its yard greener.
Several interventions can be implemented to encourage meaningful, world-oriented education. You can motivate teachers to incorporate the real world into their lessons more often. You can even facilitate this with teaching materials, content (guest lessons) and transport. There is often enough of interest in a school’s surroundings to make lessons rich in context. Especially in the region where I work, there is still a great deal of nature close to most schools. Yet this is rarely used, either by education or by children. Teachers and pupils therefore need to be challenged and helped to make more use of it.
The other intervention you can apply is adapting the school environment. A learning environment rich in context and challenges stimulates play, but it also encourages teachers to make more use of such an environment. Today, we took a close look at that intervention. And I was genuinely moved by the fantastic examples we saw.
The fact that genuinely challenging, rich play and learning environments have been created on limited plots of land, supported by entire communities, is truly an incredible asset. By simply introducing changes in elevation, creating streams, bringing back natural elements, but above all by starting with a sound process and a good design, we contribute to happier children and families, as well as more meaningful education and play. Learning does not stop when the bell rings here. In some cases, it may even begin only after the bell. And how wonderful that the children of De Vlinder and the Margrietschool then have the choice to really play!
The various examples have opened my eyes even further. The process of building support and developing a vision is crucial, as is the right design that follows. And once the final result is there, such a yard can mean even more than we could have imagined beforehand. Thanks to people such as Cedric, Jeroen, Ian and many others, that success is now spreading throughout the world. Hopefully, actions like these will ensure that, in the future, all children around the world can once again play and learn in a challenging, natural and safe environment.
Opening photo: Margrietschool Rotterdam.
Source: LinkedIn—Mathijs ter Bork.