A settled class, curriculum covered, the work already on the page.
FIELD METHOD · FOUR-DAY FACILITATOR TRAINING
$1,000 regional subsidies available. Held in the school holidays, so no reliever costs.
Our April intake sold out. October and January places are open
From Term 1 2027, every school teaches the new science curriculum. FIELD is how you deliver it.
You teach the content. FIELD gives your students the process to document it. Within the boundaries of what you're teaching, they notice something, form their own question, then gather evidence by drawing, counting and measuring. It all lands in their journal. And every session opens by settling the nervous system, so the thinking has somewhere to happen.
One teacher trains for four days in the holidays and comes back able to teach the method to your whole staff.
Upper Hutt · 7 to 10 October 2026
Auckland · 8 to 11 January 2027
Great Barrier Island · 15 to 18 January 2027
What this is
If scientific nature journalling had a baby with a wellbeing method you pretty much have the FIELD method right there. Imagine if the first hour of every day resulted in settled nervous systems, deep critical thinking and scientific inquiry, numeracy and literacy, great discussions, and all from one infinitely flexible lesson framework.
From Term 1 2027, schools start teaching the new science curriculum. It asks students to observe, investigate and explain the natural world around them. FIELD does exactly that, and settles the room while it happens. The sequence works in thirty minutes to ninety. Teachers who run it daily use the short version and go long once a week. Our October and January sessions get you ready before Term 1.
But will it cover what I have to teach?
Yes, because you choose the topic, not the students.
You set the boundary from the curriculum. "Today we are investigating how surfaces affect movement." The students then decide what to test, what to measure and what to ask inside that. They get real ownership. You keep control of the coverage.
The curriculum backs this up. It gives examples for each topic, but says those examples are suggestions rather than requirements, and that teachers can swap in things from their own school grounds, local area and iwi connections. FIELD is a way of doing exactly that.
You still teach the knowledge the way you always have. FIELD is where students practise it, through the four things the curriculum requires them to do: investigate, evaluate, communicate and apply.
We are running a four-day facilitator training in the FIELD Method, a structured natural science inquiry practice your staff can run from Year 0 to 13. In a single session, students observe, question, measure, record, graph, write and discuss. Science, literacy and numeracy in one lesson, using whatever green space you already have.
One educator attends during the school holidays and comes back with the complete staff PLD kit: editable slides, facilitator notes, journal templates and phase mapping across Years 0 to 13. They run it for your staff once their facilitator sign-off is complete. Through funding one place, you enhance the whole staff's capability.
This is not sit-and-get PD. It is four days of practising the method, teaching the method, and planning how it will land back at your school.
"A great session where you can really see the students making connections with their wonderings and nature in a clear and supportive way. One of my favourite questions from the session that a student wondered was: "I wonder what colour trees will be when they grow up." With a bit of support, all our students (including many from ELL backgrounds) were able to be successful with this activity. "
-Dual Purpose:
Science and Wellbeing woven together
Nature and Neuroscience - The same method can be used for science inquiry and for soothing ruffled classroom feathers.
FIELD method not only connects students to nature but also supports them in connecting better with each other by introducing a tool to teach introductory-level nonviolent communication skills (NVC).
"Other courses I've taken have given me just head knowledge. This one gave me practical heart knowledge of how to better connect with myself and the students and deal with the tricky days."
M. Year 10 Alternative Education
When asked at the end of the day with Natural Leaders what his favourite part of the day was, "Nature Journaling. I just really liked how calm it helped me become at the start of the day. You had to be really relaxed to let the birds return so that you could draw them and write about them. It was surprisingly good."
FIELD for Science
- F= Focus - We teach nervous system regulation skills to get the kids teachable.
- I = Investigate - Are given a theme, but they get to choose their inquiry for the session. What do they notice? What do they wonder about?
- E = Evidence - The students go and look for evidence to prove or disprove their ideas. This must include drawing, words and numbers.
- L = Link - What does this remind them of? Where does it link into the curriculum?
- D = Discuss - Return for a round table discussion of their findings.
Wins = Numeracy, Literacy, Science, Student Voice Documentation
FIELD for Classroom Challenges
- F= Focus - using their nervous system settling skills that are always used at the beginning of Field, even when they are doing the science enquiry.
- I= Investigate - what emotions came up and what did each of the participants think happened?
- E = Evidence - As a camera would see the scene. Objective vs. Subjective experience.
- L = Link - What needs were and were not being met in the situation.
- D= Discuss - Using the Nonviolent Communication framework, what new/different strategies could be used to get everyone's needs met?
Wins = Key Competencies + Better classroom regulation skills.
School Economics
By funding one place, you can build the whole staff's capabilities.
- $1300.00 across 30 staff = roughly $43.00 per head by training a facilitator at the Mangaroa Farms rate.
- No requirement for relief teaching as training is during the school holidays.
- Plus all the staff at the school gain access to monthly Zoom Q&As and teacher training.
One nature based session. Three+ curriculum gains.
Our April intake sold out. October and January places are open now.
"I'm used to just going and learning, but not experiencing the learning. This four days has been hugely about the experience. Understanding ourselves and others and actually living it."
Why Now?
Schools are under pressure to show progress in literacy, numeracy and science with the same staff and the same hours. FIELD carries all three through one session plus supporting key competencies.
The F in the model is Focus and is designed to teach you methods of helping to settle nervous systems and get kids ready to learn.
Why four days for the facilitator training?
One-day PD often turns to vapour. Four days means your facilitator has actually run the method repeatedly, not just heard about it, and can train your staff with confidence in term one.
The FIELD sequence
Focus. Investigate. Evidence. Link. Discuss.
Simple enough for a five-year-old to follow, structured enough to produce real scientific thinking at NCEA level. Students arrive and attend to one observable phenomenon, generate their own questions, gather evidence by drawing, counting, measuring and recording, look for patterns and causes, then make claims from evidence and revise their ideas together.
Every step leaves a visible trail in the student's journal: labelled diagrams, tallies, tables, graphs, written explanations.
Outcomes for schools
"I learned to manage my own instincts, particularly around conflicts in my deaning role. Learning to balance and centre myself before I can even approach the wider issue. "
Your Facilitator returns with:
- A ready-to-run one-hour staff PLD session including editable slides, facilitator notes, practical activities and classroom resources
- The FIELD sequence mapped to phases for years 1 to 3, 4 to 6, 7 to 8 and 9 to 13
- Nature book recommendations for generating inquiry questions and explorations.
- Poetry recommendations for reading prior to the session.
- Journal templates that produce visible evidence of student thinking across science, literacy and numeracy
- Classroom talk structures that build oral language and evidence-based discussion
- The FIELD Reset, a short routine that returns a disrupted class to learning without removals or power struggles
- A year of monthly online labs where your whole staff can workshop FIELD against your local curriculum
What is NVC?
FIELD's discussion structures draw on Nonviolent Communication, a framework used internationally for de-escalation and conflict resolution. In practice, students learn to separate observation from judgement, make claims from evidence, and disagree without the lesson derailing. "That bug is gross" becomes "I noticed the beetle has six legs and moves toward shade." The same skills that make scientific discussion accurate make classrooms calmer.
The 4-day arc
Day 1: (F-I)
Focus - We learn techniques for settling nervous systems and getting some of even our trickier kids into a state of readiness to learn.
Investigate - We will run you through a full session to see what the model is like then we will zero in on the Investigate section. This is where the student starts to identify what they are really curious about, and you learn techniques to help them refine their question-building skills.
Day 2: (E-L)
Evidence - How numeracy, literacy, creative arts, and science are used to document and deepen their understanding of their chosen subject of inquiry.
Link - Three ways to link what you are seeing - Nature, yourself or lived experience, and the curriculum.
Day 3: (D)
Discuss - Nonviolent communication and circles of inquiry - How to create active, engaging, and safe learning circles. How to take the same soon-to-be familiar scientific inquiry method and use it to defuse classroom challenges.
Day 4: Bringing it home. Facilitation reps and implementation planning. Leave with your staff PLD session rehearsed, your term one plan drafted, and a clear pathway for embedding FIELD across your school's curriculum.
Who it's for
Principals, SLT, deans, SENCOs, teachers, kaiāwhina, ECE teachers and learning support staff. Anyone your board would trust to bring a method back and teach it to colleagues. The training assumes no science background. If you can follow the sequence, you can teach it, and so can your students.
Your Facilitators
Mandi Lynn (PGCertSCL, MNZIPP)
Founder of Natural Leaders (award-winning nature-based education and community leadership development program for youth). TEDx speaker, organic farmer and regenerative educator, creative somatic ecotherapist, needs-based coach and rites of passage facilitator. Founder of the Every Body is a Treasure Trust and the developer of the Embodied Creativity Framework and the FIELD method style of nature journaling.
Anna Strycharz-Banas (PhD, CNVC CT)
Karllie Clifton
What’s included
What's included
The 4- Day Facilitator Training
- Four days of immersive training
- The complete FIELD facilitator kete: staff PLD session, editable slides, facilitator notes, journal templates and phase mapping
- Integration planning to embed the method back at school
- Twelve months of monthly online labs for your whole staff
- Day tickets include morning and afternoon teas
- Bonus foraging and homesteading craft sessions during the long lunch breaks
Where are the workshops taught?
We all know teacher burnout is real. School holidays are sacred. That is why we choose to do our teaching as part reviving retreat and part deep learning. We hand-pick stunningly beautiful venues surrounded by nature to help your nervous system settle. So that you also can become teachable. And did we mention the fact, that as facilitators, we are adamant that you get a very leisurely lunch break and a solid morning and afternoon tea. No working through as you shovel something in your mouth while talking on the phone. Nope...quiet nature, babbling brooks, friendly conversation, connections made either with other educators or simply the natural world. Always your call. We even have craft supplies available if you feel like playing. We want you to return to school refreshed and excited to share what you have gently through experience learned.
Zoom in to find out if your school is in one of the Subsidised zones
Regional subsidised course fees
Thanks to regional COGS funding, we have several $1000.00 course fee subsidies available. These regions wanted to ensure that there were FIELD Facilitators in the region and have provided support to make sure that this happens. Please check if your COGS funding region is below. Subsidies given on first come first served basis and apply only toward course fees. Travel and accommodation are not included.
- Great Barrier Island: 4
- North Shore: 2
- Waitākere City: 2
- Manukau: 3
- Hauraki: 2
- South Waikato: 2
- Mataatua: 3
- Tongariro: 3
- Manawatū / Horowhenua, 2
- Napier / Hastings 3
- Whitireia (Porirua and Kāpiti): 3
- Hutt Valley: 2
- Wellington City: 3
- Central Otago: 3Also, for any school that sends a teacher, at the non-subsidised price, they will be able to send a Teacher Aide at 50% off the course fee.
Investment (all prices include GST)
October Mangaroa Workshop:
Residential, accommodation and catering included: $1,800 (Mangaroa) Day attendance, catered: $1,300 (Mangaroa)
January Great Barrier Island:
Day attendees $1,100.00
Residential but self-catering $1850.00 (4 rooms available in the retreat centre)
January Blockhouse Bay Boat Club
Day Attendees $1100.00
Residential (one room available- $ 1,700.00)
Held during school holidays, so no reliever costs.
Logistics for Out of towners
In Mangaroa those staying on site will be spoiled rotten. We have 9 rooms available at Woodcote and Red Door, two drop-dead gorgeous properties on the farm. You will be catered by the fabulous Craig and looked after like you are the treasure that you are.
In Blockhouse Bay, we have a spare room in our AirBnB for anyone else travelling up to Auckland and the cost is $200.00 a night. Please contact mandi@naturalleaders.nz if you would like this room. It is self catering, a lovely house near the venue and you can carpool with the instructors to the workshop if you like.
Great Barrier Island is for the more rugged nature-loving educators among us. We have 4 rooms available at the retreat centre for $250.00 a night. You can hire campers on the island and fly in or take the ferry.
Voucher Codes for Subsidised spots
Spaces are on a first-come, first-served basis, and there is no guarantee of receiving a subsidised space. If you register and try the regional voucher code and it works, then there is one remaining. If it doesn't, then there is no longer a space available. We will have to confirm that your school is located in the subsidised region for the code to be valid.
To check and see if your school is in the region please check out this map:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1FjNJUNZQTOvrOR8FmIdXtW9iJpTh8NI&ll=-44.70338863139751%2C169.25111423743567&z=8
Voucher Codes for these regions are listed below:
Rodney / North Shore - FLD RODNFLD
Kahungunu Ki Heretaunga - FLD KAHUFLD
Auckland - FLD AUCKFLD
Manawatu / Horowhenua - FLD MANAFLD
Central Otago - FLD COTAFLD
Wellington-FLD WELLFLD
Hutt Valley - FLD HUTTFLD
Whitireia (Porirua / Kāpiti)-FLD WHITFLD
Tongariro-FLD TONGFLD
Mataatua-FLD MATAFLD
WaikatoSouth-FLD WAIKSFLD
Hauraki-FLD HAURFLD
Manukau-FLD MANUFLD
WaitākereCity-FLD WCITYFLD
NorthShore-FLD NSFLD
GreatBarrier-FLD GBIFLD
Refund / Cancellation Policy
Full refund if cancelled a month before the session.
Half refund if cancelled between a month and a week before the session.
No refund if less than a week before the session.
However at anytime you can send another person from your school in your place.
Training Times?
We start at 9 and run to 6...wait what?
However, there is a 1.5-hour lunch in there and two 30-minute tea breaks on either side, and we are dogmatic about not cutting into these.
This is about spaciousness and slowing down and taking time to quite literally smell and draw the roses.
Do I become a Facilitator just for paying my fee and turning up?
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Have questions?
Call or email Mandi on 0211412646 or mandi@naturalleaders.nz