Over the last few weeks, the Great Fen and Peatland Progress Communities and Education Team had the exciting opportunity to visit a few local schools and universities. Firstly, we were invited to a career day at St John Fisher High School in Peterborough, secondly to the Cambridge Green Schools Conference and lastly to provide a live brief assignment presentation at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

At the St John Fisher High School Career Day, we had the opportunity to speak to lots of students of varying ages about the different career opportunities available at the Wildlife Trust, explaining the importance of all roles within the Trust to enable it to be successful. We also provided an overview of the Peatland Progress project and showed some related artefacts including products made from sustainable crops being grown here.

For the Cambridge Green Schools Conference, we were asked to provide an interactive presentation discussing lots of topics including: species decline, how to improve biodiversity in schools and an overview of the Peatland Progress project. Each of the four sessions included approximately 30 young people and lots of views were heard. The main insight, provided by every group, was that students would love to have an outdoor classroom or space to discuss various topics including environmental issues and even just to have the odd lesson outside and connect with nature. After the presentation, the team had the opportunity to exhibit and chat with attendees. Due to the nature of the event, interest was high with lots of positive and interesting questions.

The final presentation was held at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. We are participating in the University’s Live Brief Programme by providing a project for the students to work on. The students have been tasked with developing an interpretation board as part of the Peatland Progress project with outputs being reviewed at the end of November. 

Since writing this, lots of new invites have been received for us to either return to or attend new youth participated events – exciting times for us and the Peatland Progress Project! Please get in touch if you'd like us to attend an event.