The John Muir Award is a national environmental award scheme that encourages people of all backgrounds to connect with, enjoy, and care for wild places. It supports young people to connect with, enjoy and care for nature, landscape and the natural environment. To achieve a John Muir Award each participant engages in a range of activities that meets the following four challenges:

• Discover a wild place

• Explore its wildness

• Conserve it

• Share your experiences

The course is run as a collaboration between Peterhead Academy and Community Learning and Development. Pupils who participate in the scheme can be awarded certificates at three different levels Discovery, Explorer and Conserver, depending upon the number of hours dedicated and individual contribution to project design and development. The activities that are involved include but are not limited to upcycling of materials to prevent waste going to landfill, construction of wildlife boxes, amphibian conservation, bat conservation, butterfly conservation habitat creation around the school grounds and in the Community, tree planting and plant propagation. We have recently developed new partnerships with Haddow House Estates and New Arc Wildlife Rescue which will enable us to provide pupils’ with real life experiences of working in the environmental and conservation fields.