School Workshops #Caru’r Cegin

This month we have kick started our school sessions for the year in Maesgeirchen. This series of workshops is part of the Caru’r Cegin Blue Spaces project. With the help of the pupils we are reimagining what it means to be a community living and learning alongside rivers. The school is just a short walk from the Afon Cegin (near Bangor, Gwynedd) and many of the pupils regularly spend time at the river for recreational purposes, but have varying degrees of knowledge regarding the important role the river is playing for the local wildlife and our wider ecosystem. These workshops aim to strengthen the relationship of the local community to the river, whilst amplifying their voices on what they feel they would benefit from in regards to things like opportunities and access to nature.

In this first workshop we were able to introduce some simple concepts around wildlife and river health to start to develop foundational knowledge which can be built on in the coming weeks. The pupils also had a brainstorming session to decide on questions that could be put into a ‘River Survey’ during our upcoming field trip and made colourful pictures of what their dream river would look like.

It is always inspiring to work with school pupils across North Wales as they bring such curiosity and imagination in their approach to engaging with the natural world. Young people are hugely important to our work and the future health of our rivers. Studies have shown that children who develop strong nature connectedness are more likely to show pro-environmental behaviours as adults, demonstrating just how important this type of outreach is.

Price, E., Maguire, S., Firth, C., Lumber, R., Richardson, M. and Young, R. (2022). Factors associated with nature connectedness in school-aged children. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 3, p.100037. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2022.100037