Surrey elementary teacher wins national award
Published 10:30 am Monday, October 26, 2026
Ray Shepherd Elementary school teacher Ellen Petterson has earned the Susan Langley Earth Steward Teaching Award.
This is a national honour from Learning for a Sustainable Future that recognizes contributions to sustainability education in Canada.
Surrey Schools shared the news of Petersson’s achievement on their website where they explained that for the past six years Petersson’s kindergarten students have spent part of every school day in the forest beside their South Surrey school, rain or shine.
“People often ask me what we do in the forest every day,” said Petersson. “The truth is that we do everything.”
Surrey Schools explained that Petersson’s kindergarten classes use pinecones to practice math, make art with leaves on the ground, learn about the weather and the changing of season, study science by watching insects and a handful more.
All in which Petersson described her students are tackling classroom curriculum in a completely natural setting.
“At five-years-old, children may not yet understand climate change, biodiversity loss or sustainability in the way adults do. But they absolutely understand wonder, they understand curiosity and they understand caring for a place they love,” said Petersson.
Petersson shared with Surrey Schools that she can trace her belief back to her own childhood experience of camping and exploring forests with her parents.
“If a child grows up remembering the forest as a place of joy, belonging and discovery, then they will be far more likely to protect it in the future,” she said.
According to Surrey Schools, the program has also drawn in the wider local community.
In 2020, a local senior known to the Ray Shepherd kindergarten class as “Grandfriend Don” began joining the outdoor lessons. Grandparents, retirees, parents and community elders soon followed.
“The children gain patience, wisdom and a sense of belonging,” explained Petersson. “Our Grandfriends gain energy, joy and connection.”
Surrey Schools shared that Petersson also brings Indigenous ways of learning into her teaching. This includes the principle of reciprocity “when you receive something from the land, you give something back.”
For her students, that means building bird feeders in winter, making bug hotels in the fall and keeping natural spaces clean.
Ultimately, Petterson said she hopes that by instilling the love of nature early on, her students will continue to care for the environment and the world around them.
“We need the children to love the earth before we ask them to save it.”
Learn more about the Susan Langley Earth Stewardship Award at lsf-lst.ca/programs/earth-steward.