To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps are being taken in urban-based schools (a) lessons and (b) activities to encourage greater awareness of (i) rural and (ii) countryside issues. [119151]

Growing Schools, launched in September 2001, seeks to tackle concerns that young people have become distanced from the natural environment and know little about food, farming, agriculture or the countryside. We are working with a number of partners to encourage schools to use the `outdoor classroom' as a resource across the curriculum. We want all pupils, in both rural and urban communities to have opportunities to gain knowledge and understanding of rural and countryside issues through first hand experience.