News

Schools Programme – Progress Update November 2024

River Holme Connections

I enclose an extract from a letter of thanks from Simon Hurst, River Interventions Manager, River Home Connections, for our support of their Year In Industry student and the Riverfly Monitoring Project:-

On behalf of the River Home Connections team I’d like to say a heartfelt thank you for your kind donation that you provided to enable us to host a year in industry student in 2024. 

We have worked with a total of five year in industry students since 2020 and we’re really proud that Ella, Luke and Natasha have all found jobs in the environmental sector. Ella works at the National Rivers Trust, Luke works at the Ribble Rivers Trust and Natasha works at an environmental consultancy. Arwen has returned to York University to complete the final year of a degree course. Rachel (current year in industry student) completes her placement with us next summer and she is doing a great job so far. 

The year in industry students get involved in a wide range of activities during their eleven-month placement including environmental education with local schools, practical conservation work, riverfly monitoring, survey work, applied research for their dissertation and anything else that crops up in between. 

As is the case with many small charities, we rely on the generosity of our supporters and our volunteers to fund our work. With the natural world increasingly under threat we’re working hard to improve and conserve vital river habitats for wildlife. To give our work longevity we are also educating the next generation about the importance of rivers and how we can all play a part to keep them healthy. By increasing opportunities for people of all ages to visit the River Holme and tributaries, we are encouraging local people to take ownership and care for the natural environment on their doorstep. Your generous gift will help us to continue our valuable work and help us to make the River Holme catchment a better place for people and wildlife now and in the future. 

Once again thank you from us all.

Cranborne Primary School

Trevor Harrington has contacted the school for an update and will report progress at the Trust meeting.

London Museum of Water And Steam

I enclose the latest progress report from Danielle Holmes, Engagement and Interpretation Officer, LMWS on WCT funded activities :-

STEAM EXPLORERS STEM CLUB

We have just completed our second year of STEAM Explorer and what a successful year it was! We had 16 youth take part over two courses offered this year, and so far we have retained 3 youth volunteers who do engineering work at the museum on Thursday evenings and some Saturdays. Over three weekends the Explorers learned about the history of water in London, how the engines on this site work and how to care for them. Culminating in the experience of firing up the boiler and assisting in the running of the engines for a Steam Up Event. The Fall session of STEAM Explorers concluded on the October Steam Up weekend. This course we had 8 Explorers take part, and currently one has already stayed on as a volunteer at the museum. He signed the volunteer paperwork right after the final session and was immediately in a boiler suit and back in the Steam Hall supporting with the engines in Steam.

We will be offering STEAM Explorer again in April 2025. We currently have £1253 left in the STEAM Explorer restricted fund to run the course. The October session incurred a cost of £923 so what is left in the budget is more than enough for the April 2025 session.

LMWS BURSARY SCHEME

Bursary funded visits for so far this year are shown in the table below. Danielle is currently in the midst of scheduling a two class visit for Green Dragon Lane Primary school under the bursary, but they will be visiting in Spring or Summer Term 2025.

Enclosed is a statement from one of the bursary applications :-.

“Many of our pupils come from diverse backgrounds with limited access to cultural experiences outside of school. This trip is an invaluable opportunity for them to engage with local history and explore the fascinating world of water and steam technology.Our students rely heavily on school trips to build their cultural capital. For many, this will be their first visit to a museum, where they can interact with exhibits and participate in hands-on activities. Such experiences are crucial in broadening their horizons, igniting curiosity, and fostering a deeper understanding of science and history.”

We have spent £710 on bursary funded school visits in 2022/23 plus a further £1060 this year out of the total bursary funding to date of £5220. 328 children have visited via the bursary scheme so far.

Spitalfields City Farm

Our bursary scheme supports half day educational visits to the Farm at low cost (£200) and classes from Hugh Myddelton and Winton School in Islington have previously visited the farm, with both teachers and children speaking highly of the visit. The children learn about food production, growing vegetables and fruit, pollination, natural pest control and animal welfare.

Last year there were 5 visits from 3 schools – Christ the King, Thomas Buxton and Harry Gosling schools. This has resulted in an expenditure of £1000 out of the £4000 Trust funding. Hugh Myddelton and Winton are planning to visit the Farm this school year.

Thorner’s School, Dorset 

The school has reported that the tree planted by the Trust last year is growing well.

Northease Manor School

Northease Manor is a special educational needs school based in Rodmell, near Lewes on a Grade II listed site, where the students are neurodiverse, most of whom have diagnoses of autism/ADHD.

The school has been engaged in active fundraising for a project to restore their horticultural garden, raising £1,300 so far. For this the School had to buy top soil, turf. sleepers, paving and two solar water pumps for the raised beds/ watering. They asked us for £1,350 to cover the full cost of stage 1 (expected to be about £2,700), and WCTCIO Trustees agreed to support this.

I have recently received the following note on progress from Tri Townsend and their horticulture teacher, Annie, at the school :-

Dear Water Conservators,

I wanted to tell you how much the students appreciate the changes we have already made in our Horticulture area because of your kind donation.

The plant beds have new wooden edgings which has really made a difference, all the old rotting sleepers have been removed and the students and staff are all saying how good the area looks now. We have had a layer of topsoil to add to the beds, which the students have done themselves with a wheelbarrow really enthusiastically. This means the weeds come out and seeds germinate much more easily than they did with the heavy clay. I find that students are more motivated in their lessons and they have said some lovely things about gardening which I wanted to share with you:

Ralf: “I like seeing plants grow and picking them. It’s not like English or Maths, you have more choice and you can do different things like digging or planting”.

Luke: “It’s calming doing Horticulture, and it’s fun!”

Elsi: “I love working in the garden and growing things”.

Many students say they don’t want to go outside, and then when they are out there they relax and start to enjoy themselves. They often find sensory things like smelling lavender or mint, or even munching on a bit of parsley or a fennel seed really positively stimulating, and of course, I have my students who really love to dig holes! The physical effort and feedback to their bodies helps them to know where they are in space and they get so much out of it..

Horticulture Garden – Pumpkin Growing

Pollinating London Together

Pollinating London Together have been working with Hugh Myddelton School helping them to learn about pollination as part of a project to develop an open space at the school to attract pollinators and increase biodiversity. Following two educational sessions 10 children were selected to submit their designs for the open space to a Dragons Den panel from PLT and myself. WCT awarded small prizes to the children who took part. Then 6 children were invited to attend the Livery Climate Action Group Annual Conference on 22^nd October to explain their designs to delegates and promote biodiversity utilising school green spaces. The photo below shows the children receiving their certificates from the Lord Mayor, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli.

Welsh Schools

The Trust has continued with an annual award of £1000 to Ysgol Y Gogarth School to support children with craft based projects and workshops.

Coppermill Primary School

The Trust has received a request for funding for a major project to develop the outdoor space at Coppermill Primary School in NE London. The project, consisting of 4 phases, includes the development of outdoor teaching areas along with tree planting and rain gardens. Phase 1 is estimated to cost around £25, 50% funded by the DFE and 50% from a charity. They needed a financial commitment at short notice to apply for DFE funding. I discussed the request with Roger North and Peter Hall and responded initially that we may be able to support in some way one aspect of the overall project, but our preference would be to visit them at some point to learn more about the project and feed this back to our trustees to get their support before signing up to any financial arrangement. I have included an overview of the project below.

Rob Casey, Water Conservation Trust – 03/11/24