An eco-project inviting school and nursery children to explore a wild Suffolk churchyard is looking to invite even more schools to take part in the future.
The Eco-Warriors project at St Peter’s Church in Holton has run for the past two years, inviting children from Holton St Peter Primary School, and its nursery, for an adventure discovering wildlife in the spectacular church grounds. Run by Pauline Milsted, the church’s Children, Family and Youth Minister, the scheme has been hugely popular, sparking a life-long love of nature in the children who attend.
“The children come round with us, exploring the churchyard and finding all sorts of flowers, insects and creepy crawlies,” she said. “We keep it to small groups of around seven for nursery pupils and 15 for reception class so we get better engagement from the children. They absolutely love it, especially the bug hunts. We’ve been doing this for two years now, it was one of the first things I set up when I came to the church as a child and family youth worker before becoming a minister.”
The churchyard at Holton has been carefully cultivated to keep it well-maintained yet wild, allowing the area to flourish as a habitat for wildlife.
“A lot of work has been done to keep the churchyard wild, providing a home to all sorts of insects, birds and animals as well as wild plants and flowers,” said Pauline.
The sessions are based around the Early Years Foundation Stage “Understanding of the World”, which helps children learn about the world around them and about change and decay over time.
Pauline said in the future she would like to expand the scheme, inviting children from Bramfield, Wenhaston and Halesworth.
As well as discovering the abundance of wildlife in the church grounds, the children also do regular litter picks to make sure it always looks its best.
Nursery teacher Michaela Gilman said: “The eco-warriors project is a brilliant way to engage the children in the natural world, an adventure exploring the churchyard experiencing nature and looking for wildlife. Some days we will be searching for butterflies, other days we will look at how lichen grows or identify birds – there’s so much to do every time we visit. The children love it, it’s something they all look forward to every month".
Last year, the church was awarded a Bronze Eco Church Award by Christian charity A Rocha UK.
The Revd Alison Alder, Diocesan Environment Officer said, "As a church, we believe that caring for the environment is an important part of our Christian faith. By welcoming school children into our churchyard to explore bugs and wildlife, we are helping them to see the wonder of creation firsthand too. These visits also provide a valuable introduction to church life in a relaxed and engaging setting. Children can discover that churches are not only places of worship, but also places of learning, community and care.”
Find out more about ARocha and Eco Church please click here.
Photo credit: Friel