Centenary 2026: the UoR Nature Park

As part of our commitment to leading transformational change in climate education for young people across the UK, the University plans to develop an improved and more integrated scheme for local schools to access nature-based learning experiences on our estate, aligned with the National Education Nature Park.

By 2026, our centenary year, we will look to bring together locations such as Langley Mead, the Harris Garden and the Lakeside Meadow as well as the University’s Atmospheric Observatory and Cole Museum of Zoology, to develop a 'living laboratory' to benefit our students and learners from schools in our region.

Working with partners including the Natural History Museum and Royal Horticultural Society to understand the evolving national scheme and conducting pilot activity with local schools over the next 18 months, we will build on the established opportunities we provide for schools and develop exciting new elements for our Nature Park.

The aim of developing the UoR Nature Park is to help young people gain a deeper appreciation of our changing world. They will learn more about the future of our natural world by engaging in practical conservation work and developing skills such as data collection, species identification, and habitat management that can be taken back to their school or college.

The National Education Nature Park launched last October and aims to bring together all the land from across education settings in England into a vast virtual nature park. It enables children and young people to get involved in taking practical action to improve the biodiversity of their setting and see over time how the virtual park changes.

Vice-Chancellor Robert Van de Noort CBE said: "Understanding climate and environmental sustainability is what many of our grown-up scientists are well known for, so we want to give the next generation a helping hand at the start of their own missions to make our world a better place to live.

“Our Nature Park will only be a small part of the national scheme but we hope it will go a long way to helping local children connect with their environment and inspire them to protect our planet.”

For more about Centenary 2026 – and to vote for our Centenary 2026 logo – visit www.reading.ac.uk/centenary. Hurry, the vote closes at midnight on Friday 22 March.