About the project

Welcome to the BES Encounters platform! This platform was developed as part of the British Ecological Society’s (BES) ‘Connecting Schools to Nature in North-East England’ project. For more details on the project itself, head over to our project website where you can read about what schools achieved during the project and the impact the project had on participants.  

This project is funded by a £248,700 grant provided by the Government’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund. The fund is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency – you can read more about our funders and the inspiration behind the project via our official announcement page. 

About the platform

The Encounters platform has been co-created with teachers and is free for any primary school or organisation/group working with primary school aged children. As a teacher/educator you can log your school's nature-friendly activities to earn badges for their and work up to achieving a bronze, silver or gold award for your class. You can also create accounts for students for them to continue their nature-based learning in their free time at school or at home. 

The platform also features a resource hub with lots of lesson plans, worksheets, digital assemblies and how to guides for you to run your nature-based activities and help towards achieving your awards. A community page allows you to post updates on what your school has been doing and be inspired by other school's nature activities! 

About the BES

The British Ecological Society (BES) is the largest scientific society for ecologists in Europe, with an international membership of over 6000 people. We support the ecology community at all stages of their careers through our journals, meetings, grants, and education and policy work. You can read more about the BES’s work on their website.  

The BES has dedicated teams that work on careers, education, and public outreach. These teams help share ecological research with diverse audiences through a variety of events designed to increase the public’s understanding of what ecology is and why it should matter to them. In addition, we also work closely with partners at MammalWeb and Smash-UK. If you'd like to get in touch to find out more about the project or the work the BES does email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..