Closer look at nature for local children

Hundreds of primary school children from across Rochdale borough will get a close look at their environment over the next two weeks as the Local Environment Action Fortnight (LEAF) returns for the fourth year.

A fortnight of activities runs from 18 September to 29 September. Water, energy, travel, litter, biodiversity and trade justice will all be examined in a fascinating and fun way, both in the classroom and in the countryside.

LEAF is organised by the Rochdale Education for Sustainability Network. Local schools have booked more than 60 workshops, with a third of the borough's primary schools taking part.

The sessions arranged this year include:

Active travel - aimed at arousing pupil's awareness of sustainable travel, health and the effects of traffic on air quality.  The workshop will involve looking at how pupils travel to and from school and the health issues surrounding the different ways of travelling.

The Life of Trees - A woodland walk where pupils will identify different trees by bark, buds amp; leaves. They will also examine the life of trees and the wildlife habitat they support as well as looking at how trees have traditionally been used as a resource. The workshop includes a practical session making recycled paper.

International Trade - A simulation game based around international trade.  It is an experiential activity which demonstrates the injustice in trading relationships and the inequality between rich and poor countries.

Energy Efficiency and Renewables - an interactive workshop introducing pupils to energy use and its impact on the environment.  Pupils will investigate an 'energy house' - part of the 'Our House' exhibition on display at Touchstones - and learn how the use of energy in houses has changed over time.  Pupils will also learn about climate change and how renewable energy can slow down its impact.

Power in the Future - Linking to the 'Our House' exhibition at Touchstones, this engaging and stimulating workshop explores the options that were available for providing energy for the home 150 years ago and what options are available now.

Lethal Litter amp; Lazy Litter Louts -using map reading skills to follow a wildlife trail, pupils will discover alarming facts on the threat to wildlife from litter. They can also carry out litter surveys, and possibly choose to help clean up areas.

Food from the Woods: Pupils will become special representatives from the school on a mission to find out how to survive only on what they find. On a walk through the woods they learn about plants, trees and shrubs they find along the way. Following the walk pupils will try a range of teas such as nettle and rosehip and take part in a healthy eating activity.

Designs on Bowlee - a tour of the park looking for features of interest, in particular the natural features such as plantation woodland, pools and grasslands.  Pupils will collect fallen materials and work with these and sketches to develop ideas and designs for a gateway to the Bowlee site.

Wonderful World of Water - Children will have chance to explore a watercourse and learn to recognise how the features in the landscape show how the water is forming the course of the river.  They will be drawing, measuring and sampling. They will also use microscopes to observe living organisms from the watercourse and learn to interpret what they see for themselves.

Background information

RESN members involved in LEAF 2006 are: 

• BTCV Rochdale amp; Heywood
• Groundwork Rochdale amp; Oldham
• CREATE
• GM North Energy Efficiency Advice Centre
• Rochdale PCT (Specialist Health Promotion Service)
• Development Education Project (Manchester)
• Pennine Edge Forest
• Rochdale Council's Countryside Service, Environmental Management, Environmental Health Service, Touchstones Rochdale and the Sustainability Team

RESN has been set up to help schools obtain the knowledge they may need to take Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) forward. It includes over 20 environmental educators working within the Borough aiming to provide a more co-ordinated approach to ESD.

Schools can now access this information and advice more easily and RESN members now have an opportunity to network, pool knowledge, time amp; resources and work on joint projects, like LEAF, which helps to demonstrate the relationship between different environmental and developmental issues - see www.rochdale.gov.uk/RESN for further info.