A blog providing ideas and resources for those teachers hoping to teach the new GCSE Specification, first announced in April 2022. Draft subject content released for consultation in June 2026 - for first teaching from 2028 or 2029.
These are going to be useful for those beginning to upskill themselves in such skills ahead of potentially teaching some of the proposed habitats in the subject content which is out for consultation until early September 2026
Georges Cuvier was someone who looked at extinct animals and used fossils and comparative anatomy to work out what they might have looked like
When we think about early life, we have a particular view of what anumals look like...
August 23, 1769, birthday of French anatomist & naturalist Georges Cuvier. First to reconstruct - when not busy drawing stratigraphic profiles - extinct animals based on comparative anatomyhttps://t.co/F5qYSMdmjFpic.twitter.com/6Eiu1XLq8a
Another location in the list of possible visit locations we are putting together as part of the support materials for the new specification when it is finalised.
Nature is the best artist, and produces stunning patterns: the feathery fronds of ice on a car in the morning, the complex patterns in a cauliflower and the aerial views of a river and its distributaries across a delta are just three of many thousands.
Often, when one views a pattern, zooming in reveals further granularity.
There is a mathematical relationship at work here. I've previously blogged about the Golden Ratio / Fibonacci sequence and its impact on natural forms.
In Adam Nicolson's 'The Sea is not made of Water' he talks about connections between Tim Robinson's maps of 'Aran' and these patterns.
The coastline of an island is impossible to measure accurately because as we zoom in the complexity of the coast reveals that it is not a straight line but has endless small imperfections which we should also measure if we want to be accurate.
Image: Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license
Twice a year, anyone can take part in these week-long citizen science surveys that help to build an important picture of river health across the UK and Ireland. Our rivers are far from healthy. They’re polluted with sewage, plastic, chemicals and nutrients, and just 15% of river stretches in England are in good overall health.
With the Big River Watch app, you can help identify the issues, which help’s the Trust influence policymakers and hold polluters to account. After the drought of this summer, many rivers are at low levels of flow, and my local chalk stream the River Nar is running at very low levels which is not good. To take part you need to download the app, which is free
This would be a good Citizen Science opportunity for students to participate in.
Download the app and head for your nearest river. Mine is about 2 minutes walk away luckily.
Spend 15 minutes watching the river, and answer the questions in the survey. You can complete the Big River Watch at your favourite local spot, or get to know somewhere new. The survey will ask you about what you see, from wildlife and plants to any signs of pollution. Not sure what you're looking at? The in-app pollution and wildlife guides can help you make an identification.
Voting closes at 11:00 am on Friday 21 August 2026
Members of the public can vote for either Shaun or Timmy
The vote relates specifically to which Aardman character will be added to this year’s storm names list
The result of the public vote will be announced on Friday 21 August and included in the 2026/27 storm names list
Predictably some people are saying this is inappropriate as these storms may cause damage and even lead to fatalities... others that we'll soon have sponsored storms... others say it's a bit of fun and raises awareness of why storms are named.
The Met Office say:
Storm naming is an important public safety tool, helping people notice, remember and discuss severe weather when it has the potential to cause significant impacts. By working with Aardman, the Met Office hopes to reach new audiences and encourage conversations about severe weather preparedness in an engaging and accessible way. The announcement also forms part of Aardman's 50th anniversary celebrations and comes ahead of the release of Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, which arrives in UK cinemas on the 18th of September.
As a sustainability ambassador and one of Britain's most recognisable animated characters, Shaun has long been associated with themes of nature and the environment, making him a natural fit for a campaign focused on weather awareness and preparedness.
Met Office Head of Warnings and Guidance, Holly Clements, said: "Naming storms helps our weather warnings reach more people and encourages the public to take notice when severe weather is approaching. This collaboration with Aardman gives us a fantastic opportunity to engage new audiences and explain why storm naming matters, helping people understand the risks severe weather can bring and the actions they can take to stay safe."
Hopefully we won't reach 'S' in the alphabet next year....
Gulls are birds which have grown to live with us, and which we both tolerate but also encourage through the way that we interact with them. They have been called "rats with wings".
Instead of sea cliffs, gulls find nests on the side of tall buildings, which mimic them.
Instead of hunting for food, we supply them with a steady stream of waste food because of our convenience lifestyle and overflowing rubbish bins.
Gulls learn how to steal, and there are lots of videos which show them opening automatic doors into shops and then coming out with packets of food.
To find out a great deal more, I recommend that you read the book 'Landfill' by Tim Dee.
Great Soils is a web page developed by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), the independent, impartial public body that unlocks success in British agriculture.
Basecamp Lyngby is described as a housing and multi-use development.
It is located in Denmark.
It's an interesting example of how housing could be designed to incorporate nature, and provide opportunities for residents or users to have access to nature in their daily life.
It's described as a place where design, convenience, and sustainability coexist harmoniously and boasts about its positives:
Intergenerational Living: This unique complex brings together students, doctoral candidates, and seniors, fostering a vibrant and diverse community.
Waste Minimisation and Reuse: The building extensively uses recycled materials, particularly in its facade. These materials not only promote sustainability but can also be reused repeatedly, embodying the principles of a circular economy.
Recycled Air Systems: The heating and ventilation system utilizes recycled air, significantly reducing energy consumption and waste. This system captures and reuses 90% of the energy from extracted air to heat fresh air, enhancing energy efficiency.
Rainwater Harvesting: The complex includes rainwater storage facilities that collect and store rainwater for various uses, such as natural irrigation, thereby reducing the burden on the sewage system and conserving water.
There is plenty more that could be done to ensure that modern buildings are more creative, and pay closer attention to nature.
We talk about ‘nature’ all the time, but what exactly is it? Does nature include physical processes such as rocks and rivers, as well as life? Is humankind part of nature or is there now a clear separation between the artificial and the natural? And if the latter, when did that divorce take place? Nature has a deep history, and what we think about it today may be different from how it was viewed in the past (there have been changes in perception even in my own lifetime). Who invented nature anyway?
It explores some of the early relationships that people had with nature and how those relationships have changed. I was interested in the chapter on cave paintings for example, and the relationship that we had with nature in those times.
Introduction:
What is ‘nature’? Has it always meant the same thing? Are we a part of it?…This is a huge subject, of course, and it would be impossible to write a comprehensive and systematic account of it in a book of this length — or indeed any length. But…stories offer a different way of finding routes through such a vast, varied and difficult terrain and my story is only one among many possible ways of tackling this theme.
Sea Land and City is a new documentary, supported by The Crown Estate.
Series such as David Attenborough’s Wild Isles have made audiences aware that the UK is one the most nature depleted countries on earth, but what can we do about that?
With The Crown Estate’s diverse portfolio which includes urban centres, rural land, the seabed and much of the coastline, the connection between these ecosystems needs to be at the heart of how we approach nature recovery for the UK.
That’s why we are thrilled to have supported a new adventure and documentary, ‘Sea, Land and City’, alongside Triodos Bank and distributed by Waterbear, to spotlight powerful nature positive solutions across South-West England. The documentary was premiered at the Blue Earth Summit in October 2024 following months of filming.
From tripling the size of the UK’s temperate rainforest, to restoring the South Coasts’ lost sea grass and kelp forests, to growing access to regenerative food in a changing climate — the documentary features some of the most exciting projects with the potential to lead big impact. The team, led by Mairead Cahill, Founder of Wonderoom, trekked, climbed, wade and foraged their way through the region to meet exceptional projects and the people behind them, giving the audience a direct and intimate experience of nature restoration in action.
Our Head of Nature and Environment for Marine, Caroline Price, joins Mairead in Dorset to discuss how The Crown Estate is working in partnership with a range of organisations under The Studland Bay Marine Partnership to support nature recovery in the region through the use of eco-moorings.
The Field Studies Council has made a lot of free online courses available. These explore a range of habitats and types of animals. These are two of the focus areas of the proposed subject content which are currently out for consultation until early September.
Some of these would be of potential value for teachers who want to upskill themselves and prepare to potentially teach aspects of natural history with which they are not familiar.
Although the draft revised science and geography subject contents are not expected to be published within the consultation period of this GCSE, we anticipate that climate change education will be strengthened in both subject areas.
Therefore, it is important that that Natural History GCSE builds on, rather than duplicates, learning in those subjects.
To this end, we recommend that the Natural History GCSE subject content should specifically develop systematic understanding of the interactions between weather, climate and climate change and the natural world, through an understanding of:
How climate determines biomes.
The interaction of extreme weather (including extremes of rainfall and temperature) and weather-related hazards (such as floods, droughts and fires) with habitats and species.
The impact of current and projected climate change as well as climate mitigation solutions with habitats and species and how negative impacts can be reduced or avoided.
The role of the natural world in the climate system, including the role of nature-based solutions (adaptation and mitigation) to climate change.
It is also important to clearly delineate the natural processes that controlled the interrelationship between weather, climate and climate change and the natural world before the Anthropocene, and the more recent human ones.
We support the inclusion of fieldwork and observation in the proposed content and recommend that this includes simple weather observations or measurements.
We support the broad range of data skills included but recommend that wider skills such as critical evaluation are also included.
