Children from Upton Junior School in Broadstairs have taken a walk on the wild side to explore the world of native British animals.
Pupils from Year 4 enjoyed an action-packed day at the Wildwood Trust centre near Canterbury, which is set in 40 acres of ancient woodland with a stunning collection of more than 200 creatures in natural enclosures.
Their visit was the culmination of the term-long topic Life On Earth and it included two important and different workshops.
The first was about animals and their habitats. The children got to dress up as various animals and explored what happened if a creature’s environment was changed.
The other session focused on the impact of recycling on our environment and the journey of waste in the UK.
As they followed the twisting trails through the ancient woodland, the young explorers spotted many different animals and enjoyed lively discussions with staff about the woodland creatures.
Many of the children also braved the walk across the bear bridge and saw the brown bears enjoying their watering hole.
Head of Year 4 Billie Danson said: “It was an important educational day and linked perfectly with our topic this term. The children have felt empowered as a result of this topic and how they can make positive changes to help the environment.
“The trip helped to contextualise our topic into the ‘real world’ and helped the children to physically see animals adapting to their environments.
“This term-long topic is extremely important as our children have learned about the world around them and how they can support to protect it.
As part of their topic and learning about sustainability, the group were also challenged to research, design and build models of their own eco-home.
The children started by finding out about the varying type of environmentally-friendly products that could be used in construction projects. With this knowledge they set about deciding what style and shape their homes would look like. They then designed their own homes using the information they had collated during their research. Finally they built their blueprint models using recycled materials.