UWTSD celebrate Learning Through Nature Conference at Lampeter

15 June 2023

Students and teachers from Ceredigion and neighbouring counties visited the University of Wales Trinity Saint David Lampeter Campus recently whilst attending the Learning Through Nature Conference.

Group of students and teachers attending nature conference together.

The conference was organised as part of the Tir Glas development on the Lampeter campus. Almost 200 delegates attended the conference.

Tir Glas has been supporting 10 schools in Ceredigion to adopt the Harmony principles as they develop a new curriculum for Wales. The conference was an opportunity for the University to celebrate the work of the pupils who took part in the Harmony pilot project, with guidance from keynote speaker Richard Dunne.

The work that has been carried out so far is of a very high standard and is a model of best practice that the University wishes to share with the rest of the primary schools in Wales as they plan for the New Curriculum for Wales.

Hazel Thomas, Tir Glas Co-ordinator said:

“The University translated Richard Dunne’s book ‘Harmony a Teachers Guide’ which was then printed with the support and funding from Ceredigion Council’s Cynnal y Cardi scheme. All schools in Ceredigion have received a copy of the Welsh book and Tir Glas at UWTSD Lampeter campus is planning on supporting further schools to develop the Harmony principles as part of the curriculum.”

“The Learning from Nature conference was inspirational and uplifting as 100 pupils representing the 10 Harmony Project schools sang the Harmony Song to welcome the delegates and special guests Ben Lake MP and Elin Jones AS.”

The organisers were grateful for the support of the conference contributors; Dr Hywel Griffiths, Steffan Rees from Ceredigion’s Welsh Language Initiative CERED, Rebecca Holden from Bwlchwernen Farm and Anwen Griffiths from the FUW, for their presentations focusing on the theme Learning from Nature.

Carwyn Graves who works on the Tir Glas project, introduced the story of lunch prior to the delegates enjoying a lunch made up of locally sourced ingredients.

She adds:

“It takes a number of people to organise an event of this nature and I would just like to add my personal thanks to all of them for their support leading up to the event and during the event.”

Keynote Speaker and Harmony Project founder Richard Dunne said:

“Thank you to all the schools and delegates for participating in a wonder first Harmony conference. It was such a joyful day and the children spoke with such enthusiasm and confidence about their learning from nature. The highlight of the day was their beautiful harmony song.

“We are hoping to build on the success of this day and to work with further school and community partners across Wales in the next academic year.”

UWTSD Lampeter and Carmarthen Campus Provost Gwilym Dyfri Jones said:

“It was a privilege to be at this event where pupils from ten schools in Ceredigion shared their understanding of the harmony principles of learning with delegates. It clearly demonstrated the value of the training provided by Richard Dunne throughout the school year. Our immediate priority now is to roll out the project across other schools in Ceredigion as well as introducing this approach to learning in schools across the region and further afield.”