Can you tell us about your organisation and what it does?
Learning Through Landscapes (LTL) is the national schools grounds charity. We believe that school grounds are more than just a space to let off steam — they’re a place where children and young people build friendships and develop life skills. Playgrounds play a vital role in promoting healthy and happy lifestyles for children and they should provide practical and inspired teaching too.

I work for the LTL London regional office. LTL in London runs school grounds improvements projects to bring about beneficial and lasting change and we provide expert training in school grounds design, use and management. There’s a dedicated helpdesk and we produce educational resources for our member schools to use within the grounds. There’s also a research and lobbying dimension to our work.

Tell us about your job and what it involves?
There are 10 people in the London office and I liaise closely with my team, working full-time on project delivery. It’s the most enjoyable and creative job I have ever done. My team develop and fundraise for projects and I implement them — so that means I work directly with schools, teachers, lunch time supervisors and of course the pupils and students. I work mainly with primary age children but also some secondary and some early years.

We work to a child centred, whole school approach which focuses on engaging children throughout the life of all of the projects. Currently I am supporting schools which are running a “Growing Club” — creating fruit and veggie gardens in their playgrounds. I also work as a consultant to three schools which are running local heritage projects, and I’m assisting nurseries that are transforming their scrappy outdoor areas into a rich outdoor learning environment.

The work is terrifically varied, including consulting with under five-year-olds via puppets to design their outdoor space and sourcing early fruiting strawberry plants so the children can harvest before term finishes. After this I will be contacting a local museum to run an activity on Edwardian playground games and then I could be setting up a media opportunity with one of our corporate sponsors, or be in a planning meeting scoping out future projects. It’s pretty hectic — but there’s a good rhythm to it because of the school year. I find that really satisfying.

How did you get into your current job?
For many years I worked as a campaigner — first with environmental organisations and then for a large international anti poverty agency. I wanted to move on to work which felt more immediate in its impact. This job is hands on and tangible. I don’t have formal landscaping or educational qualifications but I do have experience of project management: setting up and making events, conferences and campaign initiatives happen.

I worked as an assistant therapeutic gardener and I co-ordinate a community garden which helped get me this job. The school/educational context was wholly new for me but it’s important to have a job where you can stretch yourself and extend your knowledge. A big draw of the job is feeling I contribute to increasing children’s learning opportunities and exposure to play in a naturalised environment.

What are the most and least satisfying things about what you do?
Designing and presenting workshops is really rewarding. Working side by side with children is just excellent — once I got over the initial stage fright of managing a class of 30 eight-year-olds. I like seeing a project come to life and facilitating that change. I feel like I get to work with London’s most dedicated and gifted teachers too. The least satisfying thing is that, very occasionally, a school is not ready to work enthusiastically and that’s a pretty big challenge to overcome!

Do you feel that your work enables you to make a positive impact?
I know it does. Our research shows that improving the grounds can increase overall attitudes to learning and academic achievement, reduce bullying and increase social interaction. For children to change a sterile place that hasn’t been designed with their needs as a first and foremost consideration is a very powerful experience to learn at school age.

The other day at a workshop on growing fresh fruit and veg we rounded off the session by tasting homegrown raspberries and strawberries. One of the children from Wimbledon Park Primary said: “I never tasted them before… this has been the best day of my life”. I went a bit glassy eyed. I think that should be a new measure of job satisfaction — not tears of boredom or stress or suffocation — but tears of delight.

What would be your ‘top tips’ for someone interested in pursuing a similar area of work?

• Get yourself known — send your CV out on spec to likely looking organisations in your area or areas you would consider moving to. Follow up a few days later with a phone call — often in the not-for-profit sector there’ll be ad hoc project assisting / admin work. If you get yourself known then an organisation will bear you in mind — explore volunteer opportunities or internships.
• Get involved by talking to people, attend conferences (or even better volunteer at them), go to launches, read around the subject.
• Check out your local schools and see how you might volunteer with them, for example start a small scale after-school club and make a mini garden or run a series of story time sessions outdoors (you’ll need a full police check if you are to work unsupervised with the pupils).
• Get in touch with us and we can help advise which nearby schools or school grounds professionals might be able to help you.