Our work with Schools, Colleges and University.

Schools

Schools can book full or half day sessions and activities with the group, to support and enrich their curriculum studies, particularly outdoor education.

Our purpose-built education area, wildlife observation building and the diverse nature of the reserve habitats, mean that a range of activities are on offer, such as pond dipping, minibeast hunting, birdwatching, bird feeding, forest school activities and guided walks.

We are equipped with resources such as nets for pond dipping and insect studies, a range of natural resources for forest school activities and binoculars for birdwatching.

Other learning opportunities such as looking at landscape use, river study and the history of the reserve, are available.

Activities of this type go hand in hand with supporting curriculum areas of science, geography and history, but also are beneficial for other areas, such as well-being and team building.

Requests for other types of activities are always considered, so long as it is felt they can be delivered.

email Simon Day
Wildlife Observation Building -  Our purpose built wildlife observation building provides a 360 degree view of the surrounding landscape. Schools can book the use of this building as part of their visit.
The marquee is a semi indoor construction which serves as an alternative work and meeting space for groups to use. It is a convenient assembly point, situated at the edge of our established education area, for lunches and table top studies, as it is equipped with a number of tables and chairs.
The dipping pond in our Education Area.
We have 2 minibeast hunting areas where children can discover a range of ground dwelling minibeasts.
Bulb planting.
Scavenger hunts - schools are welcome to provide their own scavenger sheets, or ask us for advice as to what features/species are most likely to be spotted.

Colleges

We enjoy strong links with the local College and University.

Students from the Media Studies department at Calderdale College, Halifax, annually base their project course work on the habitats and wildlife of Cromwell Bottom Nature Reserve. Project work starts with student and tutor visits to the reserve, which include discussions with volunteers, photography and generating ideas for their individual projects.

The final products are exhibited in a formal presentation, either on the college premises or in our Visitor Centre, before going for accreditation.

To date, many creative outcomes such as T shirt designs, information posters, board and computer games, key rings, banners and badges have been produced. These provide a range of resources which are available to schools for free and opportunities for us to offer items of merchandise for purchase in the Visitor Centre.

Students presenting their work on the Cromwell Bottom project.
Newly produced T shirt complete with Goldfinch.
Key rings with Cromwell Bottom Wildlife Group logo.

University

The range of water features on the reserve, namely, ponds, river and the lagoon enables students from Huddersfield University to regularly monitoring the quality of water on the reserve, and relay such information to the wildlife group.

University student deciding which part of the lagoon to carry out research
University students testing the water in the lagoon