The Croft Launch the First Primary School Environmental Activity Study Day on the Alscot Biodiversity Project Site.

They say doing something later is better than not doing it at all and much can be said for this new environmental opportunity. We are thrilled and delighted that following a long postponement, a group of year six children and their teachers, have taken part in the very first Alscot Biodiversity Project Activity Study Day.

On Thursday 28th April, teacher Tom Genders lead a group of forty year six students, aged 10-11yrs, in a series of activities, discovering and learning different aspects of plant and wildlife in the local countryside. Mariya Tarnavska and Ben Wood, Ecologists at Warwickshire County Council, who support the venture, joined the children to share lots of interesting facts on amphibians, and even brought along some young toads and newts.   Masha commented “we were both impressed with the knowledge and enthusiasm of the children. It was heart-warming when two children shared with us that they would like to like to learn more about animals and become biologists.”

The idea of joining forces with Alscot in its quest to offer local children practical and meaningful opportunities, to see and feel nature by way of a hands-on approach to studies, was originally embraced by The Croft School back in 2019. The school’s Head, Marcus Cook and Head of The Croft’s eco club, Tom Genders, visited Alscot to explore the potential and how they could integrate STEM studies in the local area.

STEM education is all about connecting classroom activities and experiences to real-life opportunities. Instead of treating science, technology, engineering and mathematics as separate subjects, it’s a cross-disciplinary approach that is all about solving problems. Apart from the benefit of adding a new perspective to a classroom subject, getting children out of the classroom on an outdoor adventure day or residential school trip allows them to experience the wider world, challenge themselves physically and emotionally, learn independence and engage with their peers and teachers in different ways, to encourage improved confidence and communication.

Alscot’s engagement with The Croft, a school with environmental studies high on its agenda, resulted in the first activity study day at the Alscot site, being scheduled to take place in April 2020, before it was indefinitely postponed due to the enforced Covid-19 restrictions.

Emma Holman-West, Estate Owner commented “the decision to collaborate with local primary schools was simple, protecting and enhancing the countryside for future generations has always been, and remains, hugely important and essential to me. This way children can really begin to understand and appreciate, from a young age, the importance of nature whilst enjoying it at the same time.”

Speaking about the first activity day, Tom said “The aim of the trip is to enrich the STEM curriculum of the children involved and provide them with insights into local plant and wildlife.  Hopefully, this will help inspire them to become a positive voice for nature and biodiversity and to care about human impacts upon it.” Emma added “Alscot is the perfect place to explore plant and wildlife, ecosystems and habitats. We are very lucky here to be surrounded by such enriched countryside and being able to share it for educational purposes to benefit the future of the planet, is a real privilege and duty.”

Despite the postponement back in 2020, with the importance of saving the environment being a priority for the next generation, largely due to David Attenborough bringing the prominence of planet degradation to our attention, our growing appreciation for our green spaces ignited by lockdown, and more recently COP 26, both Alscot and The Croft School were eager to retain the mutual motivation to work together, that had evolved since 2019. Tom, a keen environmentalist, became a great advocate for the new educational incentive and with active support from other organisations, including RSC, WCC and Natural England, and participation from other local schools, an art competition was launched in 2020, which resulted in the creation of a new logo to represent the Alscot Biodiversity Project’s link to education in the local community. In February 2022, Tom, led a group of children and their parents in a tree planting workshop. The children, under Tom’s expert guidance, planted hedging and trees to create a new orchard of local fruit trees on the site of a former mill at Alscot.

The Alscot Biodiversity Project is land that has been taken out of farming and is carefully managed to secure a future for plant and animal species by the improvement and enhancement of natural grasslands and connecting woodlands, encouraging rare and almost extinct species to thrive.  Through management and investment, our objective is to increase the biodiversity value of the land, working through a process over a minimum 30 years, to restore existing meadows to neutral grasslands, assisted by the types and quantity of flora that is planted. The land is part of a biodiversity net gain scheme, which is a mandatory regulation that means development can continue to occur so the economy can thrive, yet conservation activities and growth occurs elsewhere.

Following the trial activity study day by The Croft, it is now Alscot’s intention to roll this opportunity out to other local primary schools and bring its students to site to encourage and enhance environmental understanding.  

In March 2022 Nadhim Zahawi, Secretary of State for Education and Stratford MP, visited the Alscot Biodiversity Project site and offered his support.

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