Exploring nature at Loch Leven

All this week we are celebrating the amazing milestone of 25,000 children in Scotland starting their own wild adventure in just two years through our partnership with Aldi. Here Craig Leitch, Community Learning Officer at RSPB Scotland Loch Leven, fills us in on the success of the school visits to the reserve that the partnership has funded.

Exploring nature at Loch Leven

It's been incredible having Aldi funding for school visits here at Loch Leven; it seems only yesterday that we received the exciting news. It is without doubt the biggest response we have had to any schools advertising and it is great to hear the excitement in a teacher’s voice when they hear about the funding offer. You can just imagine them rushing off to tell the head teacher the good news! With outdoor learning now embedded in the curriculum, the teachers really appreciate opportunities to get their classes outside and exploring nature:

“Just wanted to say a huge thank you to RSBP Loch Leven, Vane farm for a brilliant, fun and educational day with two classes of very excited primary 2 children. We had a great day and the children thoroughly enjoyed all the activities. It has been some time since I have brought classes to take part in outdoor activities with you as the costs made it really difficult when we had to pay for coaches too. Thanks to Aldi we were able to bring the children for a whole day visit and we wanted to say how much we appreciated this. Many thanks to your staff for their organisation and enthusiasm. I am sure lots of families will return for another visit. Many thanks.”

Karen Wilson, Viewlands Primary School, Perth

The children have had a fantastic time experiencing nature on our beautiful reserve, being amazed by violet ground beetle, having caught thousands of sticklebacks, spotted peregrine falcons, flocks of geese, red squirrels, as well as learning about food chains, adaptations and life cycles. And I love receiving the children’s’ highly creative thank you notes!

There are some fantastic photos of Carrick Knowe Primary School P2 trip to RSPB Loch Leven on their webpage here.

The schools booking calendar is starting to fill up as teachers look forward to spring and summer and getting their pupils outside. RSPB Scotland education staff will have another fun filled time connecting thousands of enthusiastic young people to nature and hopefully inspiring them to give nature a home throughout their lives.

For more information on the school visits to Loch Leven visit here.

Catch up on yesterday's blog from Kevin Beck a Schools' Outreach Volunteer for the project in Glasgow.