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A guided site-visit and peatland-themed workshop with Year 5 students at Wood Farm Primary School, hosted in collaboration with RE-PEAT and Earthwatch. The workshop engaged students with the history, ecology, and conservation efforts at the Lye Valley Nature Reserve - a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
The Lye Valley is a 14,000-year-old internationally rare habitat, a tufa-forming valley-head alkaline spring fen. It represents 1.5 hectares of only 19 hectares of this habitat left in all England and supports over 20 species of rare plants in Oxfordshire of which 14 are on the England Red List of Endangered Species. It also hosts ten species of rare and 27 species of nationally scarce invertebrates, notably soldier flies and glow worms, as well as thriving populations of reptiles and amphibians.
The students were encouraged to explore the site through sight, smell, sound, and touch. Following the completion of a ‘fen quiz’, the class was taken back to Wood Farm Primary School, where the workshop continued with a letter-writing afternoon, reflecting on the students’ experiences at their local peatland. The letters are addressed to Year 5 students at Clooneyquinn National School in Ireland, who in turn will reflect on their own experiences during a similarly run workshop at their local peatland. The workshop in Ireland is hosted by members of the Bog Academy, a project initiated by RE-PEAT.