Educational Resources

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Watch Groups' Report for March 2009 to February 2010

Wildlife Watch is the junior membership of The Wildlife Trusts and is the UK's leading club for young environmentalists and children interested in wildlife conservation.  Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has a number of Wildlife Watch Groups who meet regularly and are run by volunteer Leaders.  The main aim of all the Wildlife Watch Groups is to create opportunities for young people to participate in environmental action and wildlife discovery whilst developing individual and interpersonal skills and knowledge.

The Vitacress Conservation Trust has agreed to sponsor the activities of HWT's Wildlife Watch programme for a five-year period from March 2007 until March 2011.

During the period March 2009 to February 2010 

• A new group started on the Isle of Wight, bringing the total to ten Watch groups, each meeting at least once a month.

• Three of the groups won awards in the Watch Group of the Year competition. Swanwick won the SE Region, Four Marks was Regional runner-up and Southampton was Commended.

• An activity box was given to the new IOW group.

• One of our Wildlife Watch members achieved his Gold Award. We have arranged for it to be presented to him By Chris Packham in May 2010.

• We have recruited 7 additional leaders, bringing our current total to 27 registered leaders.

• We redesigned the Watch leaflet to reflect the new national style of Wildlife Watch publications and have printed 4000 copies.

• We printed 1 issue of the old style local newsletter in May, then 2 new-look newsletters in October and January, 10,500 copies in all. These were sent out to members and distributed to leaders and our education centres.

• 15 leaders, helpers and potential leaders attended a training day in January on working with willow, followed by games and guidance on administration tasks and child protection.

• Thirteen leaders have participated in a distance learning package on Child Protection.

• Four leaders attended a training day on Working with Living Willow.

• One leader is attending a First Aid course in March 10.

• 24 leaders now have Trust Volunteer clothing to help identify them during Watch activities.

• 5 groups had ‘Support Visits’ to check that all is well and policies and procedures adhered to.

Benefits

The Trust is very grateful for this sponsorship: it has enabled us to provide enhanced support for the volunteer Watch group leaders. This, in turn, results in increased skills and ability to develop and lead quality activities for the young people who attend Watch groups – demonstrated by their recent Watch Group of the Year awards and the willow- weaving and bush-craft activities appearing in the group programmes.

Vitacress Conservation Trust Sponsors Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Watch Groups

Last year the VCT identified an opportunity to partly meet its objective of disseminating conservation information to schools, other educational institutions and members of conservation bodies through sponsorship of the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Wildlife Watch Groups - their junior branch and the UK's leading club for young environmentalists.

Dr Steve Rothwell of the VCT said “We are committed to helping the younger generation to appreciate the complexities of sustainable food production and biodiversity. Wildlife Watch members give us one such audience and we are delighted to have the opportunity to engage with them”.

There are presently more than 4,000 Wildlife Watch members in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight and 8 Wildlife Watch Groups. The Groups are run by volunteers and offer opportunities for young people in both urban and rural areas to learn about and take action to protect wildlife and the environment.

Group activities are wide ranging, including crafts, games, wildlife discovery and conservation tasks. The VCT has committed £20,000 over a 5 year period which will help fund new activity boxes for each group, regular newsletters, vital training for group volunteers and new materials to help encourage more local children to get involved.

On Saturday, 19 January the Watch Group leaders congregated at the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Testwood Lakes reserve in Totton to undergo first-aid training. Professor Gail Taylor, Chair of the Vitacress Conservation Trust, took this opportunity to present the new activity boxes to them. The boxes contain such items as first aid kits, rucksacks, dipping nets, trays, lenses and identification leaflets.

Di Smith, Education & Training Manager for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is delighted with the sponsorship, “The funding has enabled us to provide enhanced support for the volunteer Watch leaders. This, in turn, results in increased skills and ability to develop and lead quality activities for the young people who attend Watch groups and will encourage even more youngsters to get involved.”

VCT Links with the University of Winchester to Develop Educational Resource Packs

Initiated by the Vitacress Conservation Trust, fourth year primary education students at the University of Winchester have been assigned the task of developing a science resource for schools based upon watercress farming and the river eco-system.

The resource pack will be designed to support the development of children’s scientific understanding based upon watercress farming and its relationship to the environment in Hampshire and will be based upon clearly identified needs established through communication with local schools.

The fifteen students visited the St Mary Bourne site of Vitacress Salads Limited on 28 September for a general introduction to the business, watercress farming methods and associated environmental initiatives. The students appreciated the presentation given by Dr Steve Rothwell, the Company’s Production and Technical Director and a Trustee of the Vitacress Conservation Trust, followed by a tour of the watercress farm which they found extremely interesting.

Their lecturer, David Storrie, commented “The students are really excited about the project and despite not exactly being volunteers I think they may act like it! I really think that the warmth everybody showed them on Friday, the excellent tour and the talk by Steve has inspired them”.

They will now choose an area upon which to focus their resource packs, identifying the learning objectives for pupils and linking it to the National Curriculum.