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This year’s tenth anniversary of UK Children’s Mental Health week took the theme ‘Know Yourself, Grow Yourself’, focusing on resilience, confidence and wellbeing. Sharing this, the Children’s Commissioner observed worrying statistics. One in five children and young people present with mental health conditions, and more than 250,000 are waiting for support following referral (Children’s Commission, 2025). A focus on resilience might cynically be seen as necessary while external services fall short.

Greenpeace UK chose Children’s Mental Health week to share polling data that found 78 per cent of primary school children worried about climate change, and 70 per cent of primary teachers feeling ill-equipped to help pupils (Gelmini, 2025). The charity has commissioned a by on eco-anxiety, the distress and hopelessness felt about the climate crisis.

These responses reveal key complicating factors. Children’s mental health can be affected by planetary changes over which they have little influence, and support from mental health services and education is insufficient. Linking wellbeing to sustainability and climate change, the Department for Education’s strategy (DfE, 2023) refers to benefits of green (we also suggest blue) spaces but recognises that nature connectedness declines from childhood to adolescence. It calls for opportunities for pupils to value and ‘become actively involved in the improvement of their local environment’ (DfE, 2023). At this critical juncture, with the UK seriously nature-depleted, this sounds promising for the environment and for creating ‘healthier, more resilient communities’ (Carruthers, 2024). Yet how are we to deliver these opportunities when teachers already experience time, training and resource constraints?

‘By immersing pupils in their local heritage, culture and environment, place-based education prioritises experiential, contextual, community-based learning which can empower a sense of belonging.’

Place-based education, which develops the connection between learners and their locality, is gaining attention as an effective pedagogical approach. By immersing pupils in their local heritage, culture and environment, it prioritises experiential, contextual, community-based learning which can empower a sense of belonging (Yemini et al., 2023). Our work looks to integrate place-based education within, rather than in addition to, the curriculum and embed it across subjects.

Established in 2019, the Morecambe Bay Curriculum (MBC) is based around the large intertidal, varied land and townscapes of Morecambe Bay, England. The MBC is an educator-led movement, supported by Lancaster University, Lancaster and Morecambe College, the University of Cumbria and the Eden Project. More than 230 members represent schools from early years to further education, including Pupil Referral Units and SEND settings. Using our theory of change model (figure 1), we work with health, environmental organisations and businesses to deliver meaningful environmental and sustainability education. We seek to develop pride in our community, improve health and wellbeing, and promote access to green careers.

Figure 1. Theory of change model

The MBC has supported 33 diverse, teacher-led projects and developed 16 subject resource packs, based on the principles of ‘Head, Heart and Hands’. This approach combines cutting edge environmental knowledge (head) with emotional connections to place (heart) and practical, problem-solving skills (hands). We also recognise that holistic, place-based education is intertwined with environmental and social justice. Our , co-designed by teachers and academics, stimulate students’ engagement with local social, environmental and economic challenges such as energy poverty and health inequalities. This develops responsible citizenship where values guide decision-making and action. Rather than passive recipients of knowledge, students become agents of change.

In February 2025, more than 70 MBC educators met for the of our current theme of sustainability and mental wellbeing. We heard from local NHS Primary Care Networks and The Bay: A Blueprint for Recovery, which uses nature-based social prescribing for health issues. Both offer community support, drawing on the charity Mind’s framework. This work is crucial given the region’s specific challenges: child poverty rates exceed 20 per cent in places, causing multiplier effects on mental and physical health, education, employment and premature mortality disadvantages. Considering these inequalities, attendees will work with students to develop locally relevant resources, activities and campaigns over the next 18 months.

The MBC is responding to the unprecedented challenges faced by children, schools and communities by co-creating a just, sustainable environment. We hope our work may also inspire other communities considering place-based practice. Every setting has unique heritage, cultural and geographical features that can encourage meaningful, protective relationships and action. The MBC started with like-minded people coming together and through this collaboration we can now make a difference to local children for years to come.

References

Carruthers, A. (2024, January 29). Building greener, healthier communities to harness the power of nature. Environment Journal.

Children’s Commissioner. (2025, February 7). Children’s Mental Health Week 2025 (Blog post).

Department for Education [DfE]. (2023). Sustainability and climate change: A strategy for the education and children’s services systems.

Gelmini, S. (2025) Majority of under-12s worried about climate change. Greenpeace.

Yemini, M., et al. (2023). Place-based education: A systematic review of literature. Educational Review, 77(2), 640–660.