Wildlife Pond & Garden

Another project inspired by the children, St. Thomas of Canterbury's Wildlife Pond & Garden is an ongoing project area, which brings together wonderful teaching and learning opportunities with a feature that is great for the local environment.

Our pond is filled with native plants, which are purposefully chosen to be the best habitat for the local wildlife and it allows microorganisms, insects, amphibians and others to thrive in a relatively undisturbed environment. The children at school have the opportunity to see first hand how the area changes over time when it is shaped by nature.

Local ducks are regular visitors to our Wildlife Pond & Garden and the children love going out to see them during the warmer months, where they learn to observe animals at a close but respectful distance.

Another discovery element our children love to explore, is the log pile & secret hibernaculum, which is a real source of discussion amongst everyone here at school.

The log pile itself offers shelter to many different insects, etc. and by gently moving some logs around, it is easy to spot a variety of different creatures who call this home.

However, (as you can see from the picture above) underneath the log pile is a deep hibernaculum - a shelter for all kinds of creatures underground, which is particularly useful to them during the winter months as the temperature remains a constant. We have piping coming out from all around the hole for creatures to get in and out and it is wonderful to talk with the children about which kind of creatures would benefit from this.

If you would like to build a hibernaculum with your children at home, please see the instructions below as it is great for our local wildlife.