Woodland work is just the job as children learn new outdoor skills
Learning doesn’t have to take place soley in a classroom, as students from a Kendal school have been finding out at Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s Staveley Woodlands Nature Reserve.
I liked being outside, helping nature.
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Get involvedWho is it?
Sandgate School is a special school in Kendal, where pupils aged from three to nineteen take different educational routes through school, depending on their needs.
What did they want to achieve?
Kerrie Bumby teaches children aged 12–14. She got in touch with Cumbria Wildlife Trust when she was looking for a sustainable, community-based environmental project that would include some work experience for her class.
How did they do it?
Kerrie spoke to Jamie Normington, Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s Learning and Development Manager, who has been looking to connect children from local secondary schools to the Trust’s nature reserves.
Jamie said: “We’re establishing these links so young people can learn more about habitats and climate change, and get involved in carrying out essential practical tasks.”
Jamie put Kerrie in touch with Danni Chalmers in the Trust’s nature reserves team, who also runs Danni’s Forest School Adventures.
What help did our Community Team provide?
Danni and Jamie arranged five visits to Staveley Woodlands, a local Cumbria Wildlife Trust nature reserve, where a number of different broadleaf woodlands come together.
“Jamie and Danni have been so accommodating,” said Kerrie. “They set up a programme of different activities for the children to do, which Danni guided them through.”
What was the outcome?
Over the course of five visits to Staveley, in weather conditions ranging from scorching heat to torrential downpours, the children have gained new skills and grown in confidence.
“Danni noticed over the weeks that they’ve worked more collectively and cohesively together and become willing to get stuck in,” said Kerrie. “They’ve got braver, and less worried about getting muddy and wet."
“This is part of the children understanding their local area and having a positive impact on it, and empowering them to help and have a role in the community. They can develop their communication and listening skills, get a sense of achievement, get experience of work, and being out is good for their wellbeing. It also showed them they could work outdoors – some children enjoyed using tools, others said they want to grow things or work with animals.”
I loved being in the forest.A student who attended this project
Over their five visits, students have built bird boxes and bat boxes (and learned why the entrance holes are different shapes), improved access by clearing paths, and built a bug hotel.
“We started with some coppice clearing,” said Kerrie. “Danni showed us one that had already been done so we could see what we were aiming for, and why that was – to encourage new growth, so everything’s not dominated by certain plant types.”
What did the participating students say about it?
Kerrie asked her class what they enjoyed about their visits to Staveley, and they said:
- using secateurs to clear overhead twigs
- raking (“because it was fun”) and hammering
- putting up the bird and bat boxes
- looking for natural materials for the bug hotel
- “I liked being outside, helping nature.”
- “I loved being in the forest.”
- “I would like to help nature more, but not where there are loads of bugs.”
In the long term, I’m really keen for it to develop. Not just a flash in the pan, but something that could be built on – something we could replicate with other classes or in different places.Sandgate School, Kendal