Wilder School - Risby Primary School

On 30^th September we visited Risby Primary School to kick start the Wilder Schools project.

We started with an assembly first thing to the whole school to introduce the project. We then worked with the year 5’s and started with a survey to determine their connection with nature and how important it is to the students. This sparked a lot of interesting conversations, with most speaking positively with their relationship with nature.

We then asked the students to draw a map of their school grounds, labelling the features that are important to them. The students drew some very detailed maps.

We then went outside and started measuring the school grounds, focusing on the area of interest at the end of the field, currently called the storytelling area. We measured the area, how many trees there are and how big the existing ‘pond’ is.

On our second visit on the 13^th of October, we discussed about changes we can make to the school grounds. We spoke about what could already survive in their school grounds and what habitats they already had. This included their already existing pond which we check the pH of- turned out it wasn’t too bad.

After looking around the grounds, the students came up with some ideas about changes they would like to make, putting them on a spider diagram on the board. We also started to discuss fundraising ideas and ways in which we can spread the word about what they are doing to the wider community.

On our 3rd visit to Risby, the students created posters, leaflets and handouts to inform the school and rest of the community about the project and what they have been up to.

They explained how they wanted to advertise for donations of materials and skills, as well as for money, so that they can re-use and recycle things. (They have already had a bake sale and raised £30 for the project).

We finished the session with an activity outside looking for signs of animals. We wanted to compare what we found to a years' time once the changes have taken place to see if they differ.

We will return in the new year when the students will lead an assembly for the rest of the school to update them on what they have been up to and what their plans are.

The year 5's delivered an assembly to the rest of the school to inform them about everything they had already done, and what the plans are for the future.

They informed the school of the planned donation and action days coming up, explaining that they will be involved with this process.

The year 5s then went on from their assembly to finish planning where they wish for everything to go, and what changes they want made. 

ACTION DAY!

The whole school and their families were invited down to the school to help make the changes for wildlife in the grounds. Families and people in the local community donated materials to use, as well as their time and skill to help create habitats.

Three bug hotels were created, wildflower seed bombs made and distributed, the old pond was cleared out, and a reptile sheet laid.

Teacher training.

We had some of the teaching staff from Risby Primary visit us at Lackford Lakes to learn how to use the outdoors for their lessons. We looked at geography and map reading, Science and English.