Lightwater school pupils learn about animal life after dark

Reception class children at Lightwater Village School made a whole new group of friends recently – of the feathered variety – when a team of animal handlers from Birdworld in Farnham visited the school, and brought some of their charges along with them.

The children had been studying the theme of ‘Light and Dark’, and learning about nocturnal animals and birds, so the chance to observe some of the creatures they had been studying up close made for a particularly memorable lesson.

“Seeing pictures in books or on screens is all very well, but nothing beats seeing birds and animals for real if you want to bring the subject to life,” said Lightwater’s Early Years Leader Melissa Lawrence. “It would have been a thrill for the children to see these creatures at all, but for them to be brought into their classroom, for the great outdoors to come indoors, made it all the more exciting for them."

Lightwater Village School is a newly-joined member of the GLF Schools Group, a Surrey-based multi-academy trust which now runs over a dozen schools across the south east, based on a model of strong collaborative learning.

“Each class had a dedicated hour with the animals, learning about the nightime behaviour of creatures such as owls, mice, snakes and cockroaches, and as a result they are now working on writing up their own books about Nocturnal Animals," said Ms Lawrence. "I just hope
they won’t be trying to get up in the middle of the night to try and see them again at home!”