Funding
Applications are now open for the 2024/25 academic year covering all of Northern Ireland. If you submitted an application last year and this was not successful, you will have been notified if this has been carried over to this round of funding. Applications will be selected to ensure equal numbers of schools and nurseries getting trained in each Council area.
NIFSA have secured funding from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Mid-Ulster District Council, Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Belfast City Council, Ards and North Down Borough Council and Drumlin Wind Co-Operative to offer free training and accreditation for schools and nurseries, across Northern Ireland, to gain their official NIFSA Forest School status.
Funding is only available to organisations that are not qualified Forest Schools already and are not private businesses.
Lady Dufferin was NIFSA Patron until her untimely death in 2020. She was a remarkable Lady, passionate about the environment and reconnecting children with it. The Lady Dufferin Learning Without Walls Memorial Award wants to remember Lady Dufferin’s passion and generosity and inspire a new generation of outdoor learning in Northern Ireland.