For 80 years, the Field Studies Council has shared the benefits of environmental education at our locations across the UK.
Our charity lifts the attainment and aspirations of young people and teachers through our courses. So it’s upsetting when people face barriers to taking part. Often these barriers are financial.
That’s why we offer grants to schools to help everyone access the benefits of environmental education. Over 10 years, we’ve given nearly half a million pounds to hundreds of schools.
We give grants to state schools where at least 10% of their students receive pupil premium. We help these schools access first hand environmental outdoor education.
London Parks funded opportunities
Our partner The Royal Parks has received generous funding from the Royal Parks Foundation USA, enabling them to offer a limited number of bursaries for eligible London schools who would otherwise be unable to visit.
The Greenwich Park Revealed project offers subsidised school sessions thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery Community Fund.
Due to huge demand, we have allocated all available funds to help schools attend fieldwork in 2024.
We hope to open to new applications for funding in 2024 for fieldwork in 2025.
To discuss other ways our charity can help your school access environmental learning, please email [email protected].
The grants we provide are only possible thanks to the generosity of donors and charitable trusts. If you would like to help disadvantaged children, please donate today.
Last updated 23rd August 2023
Read on to find out
- What grants are available
- What do past grant recipients say?
- Is your school eligible?
- How to apply
- What happens after I apply (and if I get a grant…?)
- What else does Field Studies Council offer?
What grants are available?
Field Studies Council offers grants to schools wishing to book courses at our centres in the UK.
These grants reduce the cost of a course for primary, secondary and/or further education courses from our existing range as published on our website.
Most schools which receive a grant from us use the reduced cost of tuition to help fund travel and reduce the cost paid by parents.
Grants for Schools are paid over three years. The grants can support the same or different Field Studies Council courses each year. This means that your school will have financial support to arrange environmental education for multiple year groups, rather than just one, and unite school classes in shared experiences.
Our grants offer fixed grant amounts per school (not per class) for day or residential courses. This means your school can more easily budget for field trips. This also makes communication with parents easier knowing the grant is secured.
The grant totals are:
- Day courses – £300 in year one, two and three (£900 grant in total). This represents a saving of up to 50% for a typical course booking.
- Residential courses (1 or more overnight) – £2,500 in year one, two and three (£7,500 grant in total). This represents a saving of up to 30-50% for a typical course booking.
Before applying, please take a look our available courses for primary schools and secondary schools. This will help you complete the form. If you’d like to discuss, please email [email protected] or phone 01743 852100.
Note – Thanks to feedback, our latest offers bring together and improve our past grants programme, including Bursary Fund, Kids Fund and Young Environmentalists Fund, which closed on the 31st December 2021.
What do past grant recipients say?
Since 2010, we have supported 4,788 students to experience outdoor education through our grants.
Schools shared the positive impact from attending our courses
- 95% of schools mentioned positive health and well-being impacts, especially resilience, confidence, and teamwork.
- 83% said their group learned environmental knowledge, especially understanding of topics after seeing them in real life.
- 49% reported the positive impact on the outcome of examinations and improved curriculum success.
- 76% of teachers said they directly benefitted from the course, especially their improved knowledge of their subject and how to improve their own lessons.
“The experiences allow children freedom to learn in a way that the confines and rules of the classroom cannot.”
Primary
“The course opened a box of new skills and strategies to further develop and pursue outdoor learning in my school”
A-Level Biology
“They come away with a better understanding of ecological techniques and this undoubtedly improves their exam results“
A-Level Biology
“This has changed their outlook about the living world around them”
Biology and Geography
“Staff learned a great deal and are now more confident in the course delivery”
GSCE
“One student, who planned to leave college permanently, came back to college on Monday with a completely new outlook. He said that he ‘loved it, it’s inspired me’ and that the trip helped him to ‘gain focus for what I want to do in the future’. His teachers have all mentioned what a turnaround this is.”
Teacher
Is your school eligible?
We give grants to welcome more people from a wider range of communities, especially those who face barriers to attending courses.
Since we have limited funds, we award grants to schools who best meet our criteria, as below:
- Schools and other formal education institutes in the UK which are state funded. This includes alternative provision institutions. This excludes universities. The word ‘schools’ is used as shorthand.
- Schools receiving at least 10% pupil premium* to support children who are disadvantaged.
*Or equivalent externally verifiable indicator of disadvantage - Schools wishing to book our primary, secondary or further education courses from the existing range as published on our website. This excludes non-curriculum and non-Field Studies Council led courses.
If you’re not eligible for a grant, but would still like your school to visit, please contact us about the courses we offer for primary and secondary/further education groups.
The small print
- Grants are per school, not per class group.
- Grants cannot be redeemed against existing bookings when any payment has been made.
- We cannot assess applications received outside of open periods or applications which don’t follow our procedures. This is to keep administration costs low so we can maximise the number of grants.
- We reserve the right to close applications early if demand considerably exceeds the available grants, so we encourage you to apply early.
- We will offer grants to schools who receive the highest assessments from the information they provide and based on available funding. Our decision is final and there is no appeals process.
- We don’t offer grants to cover cost of travel to the delivery site, although our grants are intended to reduce the overall cost of the trip and this can help fund travel.
- We will regularly review and amend the design and timing of its grants based on feedback and available funds.
- Grants can be used alongside any off-peak prices or subsidies that we sometimes offer schools.
How to apply
Due to huge demand, we have allocated all available funds to help schools attend fieldwork in 2024. We hope to open to new applications for funding in 2024 for fieldwork in 2025. To discuss other ways our charity can help your school access environmental learning, please email [email protected].
Applications open for grants each year when schools typically look ahead to the next academic year (and trying to avoid exam periods!). If you represent a school that is eligible, please apply.
The form takes about 15 minutes to complete using information we think teachers will have to hand. We don’t like unnecessary paperwork.
To make a school booking separate from your grant application, please contact our Schools Bookings team to enquire about options.
We are part of the Hyundai Great British School Trip which is offering free school trips and travel bursaries so please visit their website for more information.
If you would like help disadvantaged school children missing out on environmental education, please consider donating to our charity to fund grants.
What happens after I apply (and if I get a grant…?)
After applications close, we assess each application using a scoring criteria. We’ll then let schools know if they were awarded a grant within four weeks of applications closing.
Schools awarded a grant will be invited to contact the Schools Bookings team to book the first of their three annual visits for the following term or year.
To reduce paperwork, schools will not be paid the grant into their bank account. Rather, we will deduct the grant total from the cost of their course, so reducing the balance of costs paid by the school. Our usual booking terms and conditions will apply.
After a school has visited us, we’ll help them share their story to benefit the school community and inspire others through publicity/social media. This also helps us share the impact of our grants. Once we have received feedback about the first course, schools can book then next, and same again for the third course.
Schools not awarded a grant will invited to apply again and directed to other sources of funding.
What else does Field Studies Council offer?
We believe in the benefits of environment education by experiencing the outdoors and related experiences online and using our wildlife guides.
Our grants for schools are one type of support we offer. We also offer discounts, subsidies, scholarship, and placements; all generously funded by donors and charitable trusts.
