We’re working with six local schools on our Nature Recovery Corridor project to educate the next generation of conservationists and create safe spaces for wildlife on school grounds.
Find out more below about each of the schools we’re working with, and the amazing work they’ve carried out in the Nature Recovery Corridor.
The Arches Primary – Family Wildlife Club
How do we work with them?
Working with families and teachers, we are bringing UK wildlife exploration into the school and its grounds. Each week pupils learn how to find plants and animals around the school, play games and solve puzzles to help polish their identification skills. We’ve also given them the skills they need to build specialised wildlife feeders and shelters to place around the school and take home.
What’s been achieved?
The school has revamped their planting beds to grow insect and bee-friendly plants. They have also opened their first free housing development for local insects – in other words, a bug hotel! This gives every insect that needs a home a place to call their own. The school will be seeing even more wildlife going forward, with new bird feeders made from recycled materials and a hedgehog home being added to the grounds.
Lache Primary School
How do we work with them?
We have been working with Lache Primary for the past few years, inviting families to learn and have fun together in our Family Wildlife Clubs. The clubs are a great way to bring people together to take action for wildlife, whilst supporting their own wellbeing.
Week by week the pupils and their families improve their own school grounds, making them better for both wildlife and people.
We recently held a community action day at our Zoo Nature Reserve, where families we have been working with invited people from the wider school community to share what they have been doing.
What’s been achieved?
Pupils and their families have explored a range of topics and activities to support local wildlife. They have been planting LOADS of nectar-rich plants to support pollinators on the school grounds, and making bird boxes for families to take home and make their own green spaces better for wildlife.
Highfield Community Primary School
How do we work with them?
At Highfield Community Primary School we have set up after school sessions to teach children and adults alike about their local wildlife and how they can help look after it. We’ve used the school’s wildlife garden as a base for our practical sessions, with activities pupils can use at home and teachers can use with their classes.
In addition, all the school’s staff are taking part in our Wildlife Champions training course, learning the skills they need to look after the wildlife around the school and how to engage their pupils whilst doing so.
What’s been achieved?
The school has built a large bug hotel in the wildlife garden, which the children have filled with lots of mini habitats. They also have footprint tunnels and a hedgehog house, so the pupils can discover what mammals are visiting their school, and hopefully encourage some more to make it home! We are also in the process of working with the school to create a pond in their wildlife garden, which will be a fantastic resource for both wildlife and the school community.
St Theresa’s Catholic Primary School
How do we work with them?
The school building is surrounded by lots of brilliant green space, and each family group we work with are helping make the area better for wildlife. We are also working closely with St Theresa’s Church to bring the two communities closer together, and involve the pupils with helping the parishioners look after their own wildlife garden.
What’s been achieved?
The children recently helped us plant a wildflower patch at the front of the school, which will be joined by patches filled with different plant species in the near future. A new bug hotel has been built at the back of the forest garden, and the school now has a hedgehog house to help the pupils discover which animals are living in the burrows dotted around their site!
Dee Point Primary – Family Wildlife Club
How do we work with them?
We’ve been working with teachers and families to explore the UK wildlife living in the school’s green spaces. The school has already developed amazing wildlife-friendly habitats, which we are now expanding to other areas of the school. We’ve also included games and take home activities so pupils can further explore the wildlife around them!
What’s been achieved?
A pond has been installed at the school, and the children have made take home mini-ponds and toad abodes to help aquatic wildlife like dragonflies, frogs, and toads. We’ve also helped spruce up the insect hotels already in place, as well as added a log pile to create more spaces for insects.
Blacon High School – Wildlife Club
How do we work with them?
Our new afterschool wildlife club is teaching teens in the school’s gardening group to develop safe spaces for wildlife. They have been busy exploring the wildlife that exists around the garden and adding wildlife-friendly items.
What’s been achieved?
We have started an insect hotel at the school which will be expanded throughout the year, and installed a hedgehog home. We have also worked with the wildlife club to make birdfeeders and plant wildflower bulbs.
Our Family Wildlife Clubs aim to bring families closer by helping them connect to nature. The club brings five weeks of exploration and activities based around helping wildlife. Each week has a different theme covering plants, insects, mammals, and birds. There is also a free visit to Chester Zoo’s nature reserve to explore helping local wildlife at a large scale!
The students and their families are not the only ones that are developing with the club. The teachers involved also receive training to become Wildlife Champions and grow from supporting the Family Wildlife Club to delivering the club with our support.