I heard on my local radio station that children are going to school early in the morning so teachers can take them out bird watching which I think is brill,I know kids can study wildlife as part of there GCs exams but this story cheered me up.I would like to know what you think?
john.
I no in schools in Wirral were we are you can do GCSEs in nature studies,Dont know about anywere else.
The teachers in this school should be congratulated. I am sure they would love any support from their local community to help grow the children's knowledge of the natural world. Mentors are a terrific asset to any program for kids.
We are currently developing a garden in my secondary school that will provide native foods for the birds- the idea is to grow a corridor from the seaside scrub to the local reserve so that native birds will thrive and move freely between the zones. Its only in the early stages ( 2 yrs old) so its a matter of seeing how it grows! We have an environment day where locals from the community come in and show the kids about our local natural environment and every student gets to plant a tree or grass, or whatever our focus is for the year. Cheers, jude.
That sounds a fantastic scheme Jude.
I know there are schools and pre schools, who have their own individual school projects in this country and are doing a great job but I would like to see, as I said above, a proper national scheme being encouraged.
The RSPB often employ people to develop programs in schools - perhaps the relevant Ministries could get together! A Jamie Oliver for Birds and Schools??? Its only through developing an affinity within the kids that things will change. Jude.
Some great ideas there,We have local Rangers who have days out for children and adults alike,they also run workshops were people can make bird boxes and feeders and learn about wildlife.
Sounds great! Wish we'd had somthing like it when I was at school (1980's)!!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
My photos on Flickr
Just imagine making a feeder, putting it outside of a classroom and watching the birds land on it to feed. Kids would be over the moon - and so would teacher!! Any bird feeder makers out there?
Going back to the original topic I think its fantastic that the teachers are putting in the time to do such a thing with the children, well done to them!
I'm of the opinion wildlife/the natural world or whatever you want to call it should play more a part of the national curriculum. There's are children put there who many never get to learn about and experience some truly magical natural things purely because no one at home is interested (I've mentioned in the past my colleague who shows very little interest in the birds, therefore her children don't).
My sister is training to be a classroom assistant and the other week at the infant schools she's at they done a day on feeding the birds. Although initially I was impressed at them doing such a thing it was slightly annoying to learn not a lot of preparation had gone into it. I told my sister if they wanted to do it again I'd be more than happy to advise them - and even loan them a few spare feeders!
Paul, I understand how you feel. My daughter took a few children to an inner city farm last year and she was so surprised that they had never seen the common farm animals before. When she started pointing birds out to them, they didn't know the names of one bird. The children enjoyed their day out and my daughter hopes they had learnt something but as she said, even if parents can't afford to take their children 'out', they could point out birds in the roads or local parks to their children.
Hi,
Its so true what you are saying,On the news a few months ago children through milk came from supermarket shelves and veg in packets!!! This is realy sad in this day and age.