Cottesmore has quietly been beavering away at a new rewilding programme this term. In
partnership with Lesley Malpas, author of “Rewilding for Schools,” work has begun on
creating environments which encourage biodiversity and habitat regeneration. The girls,
boys, and adult team have already started building the butterfly walk and the night
garden, which will provide much-needed habitats for moths.
The master plan is enormously ambitious and includes projects like The Nuthatch
Orchard (a fruit and nut wood), The Woodland Glade by the lake, augmentation of
existing Spring Meadows, the planting of several wildflower meadows, and the
development of pockets of species-rich grasslands.
We are also working on a rewilding summit called “Rewilding Schools” in the autumn
term this year. The themes and titles of talks at the summit include: “Why Rewilding? A
no-holds-barred debate”; “Rewilding the City”; “Wild Women Do” (we’re celebrating 50
years of Girls at Cottesmore this year); “Wild Child – Grounding Young People in
Nature”; and a “Rewilding Practical Masterclass and Q&A.” We hope to attract a wide
audience of educationalists and beyond.
