A SHIRLEY nursery are paving the way for the next generation of eco-warriors.
Staff and children at Blossomfield Nursery are celebrating after proving they are friends of nature by completing their RSPB Wildlife Action Gold Award.
Participants completed 18 different wildlife activities – from making pine cone bird feeders and recycling, to bird watching and building a ‘minibeast hotel’ – with 58 children being awarded their Gold Award certificate in recognition of their efforts.
The Shirley-based nursery also welcomed the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust’s Hedgehog Officer, Simon Thompson, who taught the youngsters about the importance of helping our native prickly friends and helped them install a hedgehog tunnel in the nursery grounds.
Organising the nursery’s green-fingered activities, Learning Support Assistant, Karen Adams, said she never anticipated how popular the activities would prove with the pupils.
She added: “I’d read about the RSPB’s Action Awards online and though that would be a nice idea for the children to get stuck into.
“But from there, it has just snowballed.
“We initially were going to just put the children in for the bronze award, but the children were so enthusiastic that we decided to keep going all the way to the gold award.”
And, their enthusiasm has not been contained to lesson times – with Karen saying many are coming into nursery with minibeasts they have found or telling her about birds they have seen.
Karen said: “The whole experience has been enjoyed by staff and pupils alike and I hope they take this enthusiasm for nature and the environment with them as they grow up and eventually leave nursery.”
