#680: Young people's disconnection from nature

One via my Google Alert for 'GCSE Natural History'.

It's from the Falmouth Packet.

It quotes from a Lost Gardens of Heligan survey of 1000 children aged 11-14, which says that:

• More than half of them had never climbed a tree.
• 60% had never collected conkers
• 70% had never made a daisy chain.

The interesting bit is that 75% of young people want to take the proposed Natural History GCSE – and they want real, practical experience. They are calling for hands-on fieldwork, habitat restoration and practical tools to respond to climate change.

I hunted out the original survey.

Interestingly the Lost Gardens of Heligan has shared the response they made for the consultation, which is now closed.

Lost Gardens of Heligan have submitted a consultation response calling on the Department for Education to name the qualification GCSE Natural Futures, rather than Natural History.

The name matters. 'History' signals fossils and museums; 'Futures' reflects the living planet, environmental stewardship and the critical role this generation will play in protecting it.

The full response can be read here.

The research was conducted online by Walr on behalf of The Lost Gardens of Heligan among 1,004 matched parent-child pairs in England. All participating adults were parents or legal guardians of at least one child aged 11 to 14. Parents and children answered separate sections of the questionnaire, with some questions asked of both audiences to allow comparison.

The sample included respondents from every English region. Fieldwork was conducted in August 2026. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number and may not total 100%. For multiple-choice questions, respondents could select more than one answer. The executive summary and underlying data tables are available on request.