Education matters – DSWF visits Cuddington Croft

For DSWF, education is a core part of our work. In the field, park protection and anti-poaching works in tandem with community outreach and education to create a holistic response to the issues facing endangered wildlife. Closer to home in the UK, we work to spread awareness among school-aged children to help them develop an understanding and appreciation of wildlife both at home and abroad. Our goal is for children to grow up to be tomorrow’s conservationists with a deep love and understanding of the natural world.

Last week, DSWF visited Cuddington Croft Primary School in Cheam, Surrey to run workshops aimed at spreading awareness about endangered wildlife.

“The younger children spent the morning discovering the wonderful world of tigers,” explains DSWF Education Manager, Jo Elphick. “They loved meeting our life sized toy tiger ‘Augustus’, although one little girl was a little afraid of him at first! Year 2 then made some fantastic tiger collages. Years 3-6 found out all about DSWF and the endangered animals that we support which was followed by an art workshop learning how to print a background with tissue paper and choosing an animal to collage to go onto it. It was lovely to see the children having fun and getting creative while learning about some fantastic animals.”

Judging from the excellent feedback it was a day enjoyed by everyone who was involved. Staff felt that the day was highly organised and ran like clockwork, using ‘engaging resources and interesting talks that left children with questions when returning to the classroom’.

One teacher added: “Jo was really good with the children and they loved her, she was so aware of the children’s needs that I felt like a spare part because she had it all under control.”

While another admitted: “I learnt a lot myself!”

For the children it was an equally enjoyable day. Here are some of the comments:

“Doing the art was was my most fun thing.” (Yr2) “The big tiger was scary at first but then I loved it.” (Yr2) “She [Jo] was really friendly and helped me get better at art.” (Yr4) “I always think I am rubbish at art but [Jo] helped me to make something that I am really proud of.” (Yr5)

If you would like to find out more about our education programme you can read more here – or, if you could spare some time to help Jo prepare the lessons click here for more information.