From the 19th to the 23rd of June, 563 children in four Staffordshire Moorlands schools were treated to a Wild Week of activities delivered by workshop leaders and volunteers from several different organisations working together. We helped children to find out more about our local ‘At Risk’ wildlife and habitats, hoping to help them appreciate why endangered wildlife and their own environment matter.
Younger children had fun with MCA volunteer Alice, and also Greenwood Growth leader Lorna, finding out all about Hedgehogs, while Buxton Wild Week volunteer Helen, along with MCA volunteers Sally and Tina, enjoyed helping the children to discover how important our pollinators are.
Four MCA volunteers, Mark, Kate (from Swifts of Leek), Sally and Moira ran sessions using visual prompts and poetry to raise awareness about our endangered local Swift population, their amazing migration flight from Africa and many other fascinating Swift facts! One school already had a Swift box and since Wild Week two others have asked for one at their school! As part of their Swift sessions, three classes of older children were lucky enough (thanks to Outside funding) to participate in a session with international kite designers and makers Sky Bums, who talked about kites from various countries and explained how they were used. We were very pleased that Sky Bums responded to our request to source and use recycled material where possible. ALL the children drew Swifts on their kites and successfully made their own. In total, 90+ children took part, 61 made and flew their kites outside and 29 made their kites but were unable to fly them due to the weather. However, all the children (and adults) took their kites home.
Here are some of the children's comments:
“Kites are important because one of them helped in the war.”
“I liked how we looked at different kites and we got to make one too!
“There were all different kites.”
“I like making the kites.”
“Do not fly your kites near electric pylons or wires.”
Another of our endangered spring/summer visitors, the Curlew, was introduced by MCA and RSPB volunteers Andy and Moira. Children discovered how and where Curlews fed, reared their chicks and tried to survive. They listened to the amazing Curlew call and later made masks with life-size 17cm long beaks! There was plenty of feedback from these sessions, from the poetic and lyrical to..… “Curlews nest on the ground.. noisy things but endangered!"
Feedback from the Schools was very positive - they were pleased that the children had had such a rich experience. One head wrote, “Thank you for all you did last week – the sessions were amazing and added such a wonderful dynamic to Wild Week….. we had a great week!”
The Youth Action group is very grateful to ALL the volunteers - to OUTSIDE Arts, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Transition Buxton and Moorlands Climate Action for helping support and fund Moorlands Wild Week.