#24: Wildflowers for Primary Schools for the King's Coronation

I've set up a Google Alert for the term 'GCSE Natural History' and it sent me to a recent post from the Department for Education.

They are going to be sending Wildlfower Seeds to Primary Schools around the country.

According to the blog post:

This initiative is inspired by His Majesty the King’s commitment to the environment. Working with the Eden Project’s National Wildflower Centre, over 200,000 seeds packets will be sent to schools.

If planted together, around 40 rugby pitch sized wildflowers meadows would be created. The packets of seeds include native annual wildflower species, like cornflower, corn poppy and corn chamomile.

Planting the seeds will be an opportunity for children to engage with the natural world and learn more about the importance of biodiversity, as well as being a way for them to celebrate a historic national moment.

The Eden Project has produced some educational resources, and guidance on planting the seeds.

There is also a link to the new GCSE in Natural History which I am preparing resources for, and have a dedicated blog.

You can also join over 750 other teachers on our GCSE Natural History Facebook page.

As the post says:

We’re also developing a new Natural History GCSE which will enable young people to explore the world by learning about environmental and sustainability issues, and gain a deeper knowledge of the natural world around them.

This is all part of the development of a National Education Nature Park which is in the making.

#12: GCSE Natural History Supporters

GCSE Natural History Supporters are shown here, taken from the original list. 

An image is also shown below. This is taken from the OCR Hub.

This list may well change as time passes and the specification goes through development with additional organisations being added to the list as they get involved. One would expect some to get involved in the creation of learning resources, whether through their own Education team or by sponsoring the creation of branded material. 

Some of this work may go out to tender and be available for teachers and other organisations to get involved with.

This image is taken from the OCR Hub and the original documentation that was released when the specification was given the approval.

Since then of course, we have cycled through quite a few more Education Secretaries and there has been additional pressure placed on the UK's natural resources.

These are the organisations that could see some benefit of being involved in the new qualification, and who will perhaps be involved in supporting its development in various ways, or think that there would be advantages to young people gaining the knowledge and skills that the new qualification could potentially provide for young people. This could mean a pool of people to draw from to recruit for their future work, and also be advocates for the causes they are leading on.

Representatives have also provided some thoughts in essays here.

They include the Linnean Society - an organisation I will blog about separately - along with many of the names on the list - and also one of the Geographical Association's Strategic Partners: the Field Studies Council.

Some other key names on the list are shown below.

Each of these will be returned to in separate posts.

LEAF Education

RHS: Royal Horticultural Society - they have been involved in a number of education projects

Ocean Conservation Trust - includes some serious work on seagrass meadows which are an important habitat and carbon sink - students are likely to explore the oceans as well as the land

Whole Education

Natural History Museum - there will be a separate post on this location - a perfect field visit for those who can get there

Eden Project - another excellent place to visit, but very remote from most locations in the UK

NBN: National Biodiversity Network

This is a useful website which has some detailed biodiversity data for the UK.

BBC - clearly a large collection of resources.

The Urban Birder - David Lindo

A useful person to follow.

Cambridge Zero

Oxford Museum of Natural History

A splendid place to visit.

Country Trust

NAEE

Ashomolean Museum, Oxford

British Society of Soil Science

Marine Conservation Trust