NEARLY 400 pupils have taken part in a mega-activity day to help a Tyne Valley school become a dream destination – for insects!

Ovingham Middle School aims to transform its five acre site from a dull playing field to a plant haven that will attract all kinds of pollinating insects. It is part of a national project called Polli:Nation.

On June 8, 22 different workshops were held throughout the day. Every pupil attended three sessions.

The workshops ranged from creating a hay meadow to identifying and dating trees, learning about live honeybees in a demonstration hive and looking at different species using microscopes.

Headteacher Andrew Bennett said: “I’m completely knocked out by the variety of workshops we offered the children. The one thing they all had in common was a link to pollination.

“As well as art, a bee waggle dance workshop and yoga, there were really serious subjects, like pest control, testing soil and dealing with stings.

“Everyone, including the adults, learnt something. Now we’ll put it into practice by creating a wildflower garden and hay meadow, and an outside learning area.

“ Over the next three years, this school is going to become a paradise for plants that attract fantastic pollinating insects from miles around.

“The calibre of experts helping us is absolutely fantastic, and we’re all so grateful to them for supporting our school.”

The area co-ordinator of the Polli:Nation project is Anita Foster, who explained how the biodiversity and education project is funded by the Heritage Lottery.

It supports schools across the UK to help transform their grounds into pollinator-friendly habitats.

As well as teaching children about the importance of plants, insects and pollination, the newly-created habitats provide “green stepping stones” to help insects move between different areas.

She said: “Ovingham Middle School pupils have already done a survey which flagged up how very poor the plant diversity is around the school. Their ambition to change that is incredibly exciting.”

Speakers on the activity day, called Bee:Con, included lecturers from Newcastle University, Northumbria University and Durham University, and staff from Nafferton Farm, North-East Ambulance Service, MACAW Engineering, Northumberland County Council, Wylam Community Orchard and Hexham Beekeepers’ Association.

Native seed producer and conservationist Kevin Warf, from Rothbury, teamed up with Natural England to talk about creating meadows and Kevin is donating native meadow seed to the school.

The Ovingham Middle children were joined by pupils from Broomley County First School in Stocksfield, Ovingham First School and Prudhoe High School.

They are also part of the Polli:Nation scheme and plan to develop their own projects.

The Bee:Con day was inspired by Kate Agar and Jilly Halliday, who develop and run beekeeping and planting projects.

Jilly said: “Like many parents with young children, we want them to feel comfortable with nature and insects.

“As beekeepers ourselves, we began by organising a school bee colony two years ago, and the whole thing just snowballed.

“We found out about the Polli:Nation scheme and were thrilled to be selected.

“The children absolutely love it. They are energised and quickly learn so much that it’s mind boggling.

“Organising the Bee:Con day has been a huge job, but the experts have been so enthusiastic and helpful that we’re all really encouraged.”