Education has always been one of our core aims here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, but since hiring a dedicated Education Officer in 2020, this has been taken to a new level.
During the various lockdowns, Education Officer, Susan Jones, worked from home to create free resources and learning materials available from our website. She also launched our Virtual Sessions, which allowed us to deliver learning opportunities while we were closed to visitors.
Our All About Owls fact sheets are free to download from the website
Susan keeps diligent records of all of the sessions she delivers and events she attends on our behalf and having totted up the totals from 2021, can announce that we reached over 3000 individuals last year!
Of these, over 1300 were via Virtual Sessions to 25 different schools, colleges or groups. Most of these booked an All About Owls session, which covers fun facts about Owls and often features a live owl. Several also booked our Pellet Detectives session, where Susan demonstrated how to dissect a pellet and showed some of the things they might find. Some of these were done live, with the class dissecting their pellets during the session, which allowed them to ask questions about their findings during the session.
Although most of our Virtual Sessions were to schools known to us from the local area who were unable to arrange an in person visit due to Covid, we were able to reach several schools, groups and colleges from further afield, including a cluster of schools and youth groups in Oxfordshire, a college in the North West, a secondary school in London, an English School in Belgium and two youth groups in Oman!
Pellet Detectives proved to be a popular activity for our Virtual Sessions.
“Particularly enjoyed seeing the owl, learning new facts and the interaction between Susan and the children. You pitched the session at the right level and spoke slowly and clearly. Thank you!”
Our Education Team attended 11 schools and youth groups locally to deliver engaging learning sessions as part of our Outreach Visits. In addition to these, we attended 2 events hosted by Suffolk Libraries over the summer holidays as part of their Summer Reading Challenge, as well as attending 3 local events to raise awareness about our work. We visited 3 local care homes with our Owls to provide some therapy for residents. Susan also delivered a presentation to a local interest group.
Susan and Bethany delivering an All About Owls session to a youth group
“The Sanctuary was asked to provide an activity throughout the day of special events for all groups on two separate days. Each activity was perfectly tailored to each age and ability group. The children loved hearing about the work of the Owl Sanctuary and enjoyed the practical and active nature of the sessions. The staff’s knowledge and enthusiasm for owl pellet dissection was clear to see and the older pupils were mesmerised by the hour spent pulling the pellets apart.”
Our Education Team also organised a range of activities for schools and groups visiting us last year. 11 schools, 5 Home Education groups and 1 youth group visited us and enjoyed guided walks, flying displays, meerkat talks, trails and activities around the site.
Young visitors exploring the Centre, using our Safari Trail booklet to identify the birds they find
“We enjoyed everything! The children had a fabulous time!”
We also delivered our first All About Owls course for Home Educating families, which saw them learning about habitats, food chains, supersenses, conservation and having a go at becoming Pellet Detectives. These sessions were delivered through a variety of activities which suited the different learners, including discussions, crafts, practical work and group work.
Parents and children engaging with the activities in our All About Owls Course for home educating families
“What made it a success for my son was the combination of material he found really interesting with a no pressure approach.”
2022 is already looking more “normal” with several local schools and uniformed groups booking visits to us before Easter. In addition to school education sessions, we will be running two Home Education Courses before Easter.
We are pleased to be involved with the Big Hoot Trail in Ipswich and are looking forward to working with them over the summer to deliver activities at a variety of events. We will also be attending the Suffolk Farm and Country Fair in April.
We look forward to seeing the finished Hoots around Ipswich this summer
Susan has several ideas she’d like to work on this year, including more focus on our Hospital and Rescue work for educational groups, encouraging creativity on visits through art, photography and writing, as well as continuing to build relationships with local schools, groups and like-minded organisations.