Hillside Avenue Primary and Nursery School

Thursday 11^th September – Session 1: The Hook

The Wilder School journey of the year 4 children of Hillside Avenue Primary and Nursery School started with a visit to NWT Thorpe Marshes. This site is an amazing free-to-access nature reserve, within walking distance of the school and it was great to be able to introduce the children to this wonderful wildlife haven on their doorstep! 

Throughout the day the children took part in three different activities: a habitat trail around the reserve, dyke dipping in the freshwater dyke and minibeast hunting in the wooded area. The children particularly enjoyed finding invertebrates under logs and inspecting various finds under the microscopes, as well as seeing some birds of prey! 

It was a great day; the weather was kind to us and children and adults alike enjoyed the visit. It was lovely to meet the children I will be working with this year, and I am looking forward to seeing them in school soon for the assembly! 

Tuesday 23^rd September – The Assembly and Meeting the Class 

Today was all about introducing the wider school community to the Wilder School programme they are taking part in and it was great to meet the whole school in the assembly. The children were interested to learn about NWT Thorpe Marshes and enjoyed taking part in a ‘Norfolk or Not’ quiz where they tried to guess which animal was the odd one out and wasn’t found in Norfolk. 

After the assembly, I met the two year 4 classes I will be working with this year and we had fun making animal name badges using the first letter of our first name. For example: 

Wednesday 8^th October – Session 2: The Survey 

This session involved exploring the school grounds; looking at the existing habitats, recording what is already in place to help nature, as well as looking for evidence of different animals who have made this area their home. The children had great fun searching for different habitats and loved hunting for invertebrates as well as the tracks and trails of other animals. They were able to identify habitats the school already has and recorded several different creatures – the earwigs, harvestmen and crane flies were a highlight!

Wednesday 22^nd October - Session 3: The Habitats 

Today, we spent time exploring various habitats, discussing the benefits they offer for different species and which plants and animals like to live where and why. The children then each had a vote (creating a human bar chart) to decide which animals they would like to encourage and what changes they would like to make to provide suitable habitats for them. The results will be revealed in the next session! 

To finish the session, the children enjoyed playing a food chain game which helped to demonstrate the interconnectivity of habitats and living things and were left with a half-term holiday challenge – to create a nature journal. I can’t wait to see what they have achieved when I am next in school.