SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL OF CIRENCESTER AND DISTRICT GLOUCESTERSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST
PRIMARY SCHOOLS NATURE AND WILDLIFE QUIZ 2014
The GWT’s annual Primary schools Nature and Wildlife Quiz is organized from the Trust’s Education department and covers the whole County which is divided into eight areas – North Cotswolds., South Cotswolds, Stroud,Dursley, Tewkesbury , Cheltenham, Gloucester and the Forest of Dean. Each area is administered by volunteers who organize the schools in their particular area.
Here in the South Cotswolds we have a large number of schools widely dispersed from Birdlip to Lechlade which are organized by Cirencester Soroptimists and has been ongoing for many years.
As Nature as such is not taught as it used to be, we have found that Nature clubs are extra curricula activities in most of our schools and are a direct result of the Quiz. Volunteer parents and teachers organize these groups after school and they have become very active in providing wildlife experiences that inspire children to take direct action for the environment in which they live and have to care for in the future.
The schools organize their own teams and transportation to other schools for matches. The Quiz is educational and fun. It is a team competition and continues from January to July and encompasses not only the children but also the volunteers, the parents and the teachers. We involve the classes that come to watch the Quiz but it is the team work and socializing with the other teams that is a good learning experience for many of the children.
We cannot thank our schools enough for the wonderful support they give us and the welcome we always receive when we arrive for a match. We travel quite a few miles around our area over quite a few months, collect live specimens from some amazing places – up trees, in streams and ditches and down nasty holes – and appreciate the cups of tea we receive at the schools!
We are often asked why we do it! We do it because welove being practically involved with the children and their schools so closely. It is a privilege to be able to help educate for the future, via the Quiz,
‘A Gloucestershire richer in wildlife that is understood, valued and sustained by the people, communities andorganisations living here” (GWT)
Annie Kelly
Muriel Paine
South Cotswold organisers.