Autumn Budget: key takeaways for schools

On November 26th, Rachel Reeves announced the new Autumn Budget, and we’ve analysed it to see what the implications are for climate and nature education. While there are a couple of positive steps, the government has once again failed to provide the investment required to embed meaningful climate education and decarbonise our schools. After the promising Curriculum and Assessment Review this year, it’s disappointing to see another budget which fails to prioritise the future of young people.

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The budget included £5m towards primary school libraries and £18m towards playgrounds. The investment of outdoor spaces in schools is a step in the right direction, and this is an excellent opportunity to reimagine what these spaces could look like. We hope that the government will support schools to provide play equipment made of recycled and sustainable materials, as well as incorporating green space into playgrounds. For example, outdoor classrooms provide valuable opportunities for learning. This is also an opportunity to align with the National Education Nature Park, a government initiative aiming to improve how pupils engage with nature.

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We’ve previously discussed reports that flooding affects 80% of schools, and it’s important to ensure that playgrounds are made of materials which do not increase flood risks. In my own primary school, which was next to a river with high water levels in rainy months, repeated school floods occurred after the playground was covered with artificial grass.

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Despite Reeves making reference to “fixing the crumbling schools the Tories left behind,” there is no further funding allocated towards school rebuilding or retrofit programmes. Yesterday’s budget provides limited relief to schools facing rising energy bills, staffing costs, and inflation. Because core budgets remain so stretched, schools still lack the capacity to deliver climate and nature education, even when they want to. Funding constraints make it harder to train teachers in climate literacy, to integrate sustainability across the curriculum, or to offer hands-on outdoor learning. Climate education simply cannot be fully implemented in an underfunded system.

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The new budget does not include investment to support teacher training in climate literacy; it does not allocate resources to ensure that every child receives regular, meaningful access to nature, and it does not back the shift towards solution-focused teaching and learning.

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If climate and sustainability are genuinely priorities for education, future spending decisions must reflect that. We call on the government to:

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• Provide dedicated funding for climate and nature education across all key stages
• Invest in teacher training to ensure that every educator feels confident teaching about climate, nature and solutions
• Ensure school rebuilding and retrofit projects are fully aligned with net-zero commitments
• Fund the enrichment entitlement so every young person can access nature and outdoor learning
• Support schools to implement the Curriculum and Assessment Review’s recommendations in full.

The Autumn Budget has made small steps in the right direction but it still doesn’t come close to delivering the education system that young people need. As long as funding doesn’t match the scale of the crisis, we risk leaving another generation without the knowledge, skills and experience needed to navigate a rapidly changing world.