Arnside & Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) has reached the public vote stage of the Aviva Community Fund for their go WILD! project.

Winning would enable the AONB to invest £22,000 in helping local schools to spend more time on outdoor learning. They need as many people to give them their ten votes as possible.

Taking learning outdoors will enable teachers to focus on hands-on problem solving and help children build real-life skills.

A spokesperson from AONB said: "Every week there is a new report on increased levels of obesity, type 2 diabetes or depression in our young people.

"The evidence seems to show that too much time on screens and an increasing emphasis on classroom learning are at least partially responsible.

"With parents working ever increasing hours, reductions in public transport and huge pressure to ‘teach to the test’ it seems hard to solve these problems."

The money would be spent on forest schools training for at least one teacher in each of the schools, creation or improvement of outdoor classrooms on school groups to bring outdoor learning to their doorstep.

As well as running outdoor family clubs after school and training retired people in running events for families and children to share their skills and knowledge.

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The AONB want to make it easy for schools to get children outdoors, enjoying the open air, moving more and giving those children who don’t flourish in the classroom environment the opportunity to enjoy learning.

You can visit the Aviva Community Fund website on www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk, to register to vote and then search for ‘Go WILD!’