A WILDLIFE haven with a difference has been created at a Flintshire school.
The new outdoor classroom and wild garden at Ysgol Bro Carmel, near Holywell, features a hedgehog hotel, a nectar café for insects and even bijou apartments for birds – in the form of bird boxes.
Rural regeneration agency Cadwyn Clwyd provided more than £10,000 towards the wildlife garden and the school itself raised £3,500.
Headteacher Jo Garbutt said: “The outdoor classroom is a huge benefit to both the school and our local community groups. It enables children to gain a wealth of first hand experiential learning experiences which will greatly enhance their learning and it enables the teachers to provide an even higher standard of teaching and learning.
“Children will benefit in so many ways educationally and environmentally at the same time as having fun outdoors.”
William James, 10, is a very keen young gardener and an active member of the after school club which helps maintain the new wildlife space.
He said: “I am looking forward to seeing things grow. We made a hedgehog house under the compost heap and I am really hoping to see one because I have never seen one before.”
Sarah Jones, environment and heritage officer for Cadwyn Clwyd, said some of the major digging for the new garden was completed during the summer holidays but much of the hard work had been done by the school since the beginning of the new term, with the help of Cadwyn Clwyd and workshops run by the North Wales Wildlife Trust.
She said: “In a very short space of time, the school has achieved a lot, creating a fantastic, new learning resource and a wonderful habitat for all sorts of creatures and plants.
“It is amazing how much the children absorb about wildlife, learning in this way, and it is good to see them putting things they have learnt in the classroom into practice.”
Iwan Edwards, wildlife gardening officer at the North Wales Wildlife Trust, said: “The children will be able to take part in outdoor learning and gain real experiences in the outdoor environment. They will learn about wildlife through activities such as pond dipping, managing a wildflower meadow, studying flying insects and bug hunting.
And they will be watching a garden develop over time – which is an education in itself.”