Part 3 of our Erasmus+ Project (Download PowerPoint to see some photos)
Miss McCormick and Mrs Farnon travelled to Slovenia from 6th -13th March, as part of our current school Erasmus+ Project – Effective Implementation of Animal Assisted Education. This project is an innovative idea to share good practice when using animals in the classroom. We at Ballymacrickett PS are collaborating with four other partner schools from Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and Greece. Over the past six months staff from our school have been invited to visit a school in Spain, Turkey and most recently Slovenia. While there, teachers from Ballymacrickett got the opportunity to witness first hand how effectively animals can be used to enhance teaching and learning in the classroom.
Each of the five schools have a focused animal and when the staff from the schools join together they learn from each other and share ideas, resources, problems and solutions. In Slovenia we learned about farm animals. We now intend to replicate some of their activities and ideas to assist the children in our school. We also got to visit some famous landmarks and observe some beautiful scenery. Although this project does not focus on being an Eco school, we witnessed how the pupils, staff and community look after and take responsibility for their country which is why they are recognised as being the third best ‘green’ country in the world. Mrs Farnon and Miss McCormick were very impressed and hope that they can share this good practice to promote a greener learning and living environment around our school.
So far in our school we have already started to implement the effective use of animals to assist with education.
The boys and girls in Primary 5 have benefitted from a four-week programme where they observed Alvin eggs and watched as they grew into little trout. The children were invited by the Glenavy Conservation Society to assist in releasing the trout into the Glenavy River.
Some children have also got to visit Tullynewbank Stables and participated in a six-week programme using horses to help change lives. They participated in many activities there which helped build confidence, developed skills in team work, communication, problem solving, empathy and responsibility. They then brought these skills back to the classroom and used them in other activities.
We have also welcomed our school hamster Baby Yoda and children in different year groups will be given responsibilities over the coming weeks and months to assist with looking after him.
Primary 2 will visit a farm and learn lots about farm animals first hand and through their topic Living Things.
In Primary 6, the children will observe some chicks as they begin to hatch. As our school environment and outdoor learning area provides perfect space to include some animals, we would like to build a chicken coup in our long grass area. Once the hens are big enough we hope that we can get some free range eggs from them. These can be used in the school canteen or possibly sold in our Ballymacrickett Farm shop… more information to follow.
We also hope to adopt/source a goat that can live on our school grounds and this will allow pupils another opportunity to observe, look after, feed and care for an animal.
Following on from Mrs McAllister and Miss McCormick’s trip in January to Turkey, and hearing about the wonderful benefits of having an aquarium, we would like to get an aquarium for our Rainbow room which the children will be able to visit and use to help them regulate and manage their emotions in a positive way.
Can you help us?
Are you able to build/supply resources to help us create a chicken coup? Do you have hens that are laying eggs that would like to live here?
Do you have a large fish tank that is no longer being used that we could use in school for our aquarium? Or any plants/rocks etc. that could be placed inside it?
Do you have a goat that would like to live in our school grounds?
If you can help in any way, we would love to hear from you!
Thank you,
Erasmus Team
