On June 13 till 14 the City of Rotterdam hosted a very inspiring and instructive conference about nature-based schoolyards as part of the Coolschools project. Besides the coolschools partners professionals with different backgrounds from the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, and the UK attended the programme. There were presentations, workshops and we proudly took participants to see some of our nearly 50 green-blue schoolyards in the city.
The following presentations were given on 13 June:
– Coolscools Research Highlights
– Rotterdam Green Agenda
– Green Schoolyards – How to fully tap it’s potential
After the presentations, participants were taken on a city walk along some green-blue spots and squares. The following spots were visited:
– Water square Benthemplein
– Schoolyard De Provenier
– Schoolyard De Margriet
– Thomas Moore outdoor classroom
– Essenburg Park
– Natural playground de Speeldernis
The following presentations were given on 14 June:
– Projects with citizen & children engagement at the University of Twente
– Setting up a network by the van Leer Foundation
All presentations in pdf format are available here
After the presentations, the attendees joined the brainstorming workshop how to set up an European Schoolyard Movement. After lunch the participants visited Bospolder-Tussendijken where two workshops were given about outdoor education and community design. Find more information here.
The coolschools project team looks back with great pleasure on the successful and constructive days. The next venue will be held in Brussel in January 2025.