Let’s Learn Moor as Yorkshire Water inspires young minds at the Largest Upland Classroom

Yorkshire Water helped primary school pupils from across northern England get hands-on with nature this summer, as part of Let’s Learn Moor, the UK’s largest upland classroom event.

Led by the BASC and supported by the BASC Legacy Fund, the initiative brought together more than 70 schools to explore vital topics such as biodiversity, water quality, and land management and moorland safety, just in time for the summer holidays.

Yorkshire Water played a key role in the multi-location event, delivering interactive educational sessions at Dallowgill Moor and Hebden Bridge for over 700 primary school students. The sessions gave children a practical insight into how upland environments work and why their management is critical, not just for wildlife, but for the climate and local communities too.

Lisa Harrowsmith, lead surveyor at Yorkshire Water, said: “We led practical sessions for the children to get hands-on and experiment with peat and sphagnum moss, used for carbon storage and natural flood management.

“The children weigh the moss dry, wet it, weigh it again and calculate how it holds about 10 times its own weight in water. We also take models that replicate grips on the moor and demonstrate how the flow of water changes from a bare grip (drainage channel), to being vegetated and then to being vegetated with small dams installed. As this has been the driest spring in 132 years, exercises were related to the dry weather and water saving.”

These engaging sessions form part of Yorkshire Water’s wider Beyond Nature® initiative, an integrated land management approach that helps farmers and landowners balance food production with environmental and biodiversity stewardship. Through Beyond Nature®, Yorkshire Water promotes catchment-sensitive practices that protect water quality, restore peatlands, and support natural flood defences.

The Let’s Learn Moor event was facilitated by Regional Moorland Groups, private estates, and educational charity Countryside Learning, drawing together a wide range of organisations committed to sustaining the UK’s unique upland habitats. 'Let’s Learn Moor' serves as the UK’s prime annual upland education event, introducing children to the people and organisations safeguarding moorland landscapes and species.