Our award winning BISC Skills Award (BSA) is designed to help students get the most from co-curricular activities while they are here with us at the Castle. Our BSA students work with coaches to improve not just their academic skills, but also set goals and attend workshops that contribute to their personal development.
This term we launched our brand-new Ecology & Land Stewardship component with a module we have dubbed ‘Bees & Trees’. The course began by providing an introduction on pollinators and bee husbandry, offering the students a chance to suit up and observe the activities in one of the Estate’s two new apiaries. A keen beekeeper himself, the BISC’s Science Coordinator Dr. Simon Coppard gave students an insight into what beekeepers do at this time of year – such as making sure the bees have sufficient stores to get through winter and highlighted some of the insects’ fascinating behaviour. For example, with the winter months fast approaching, the hive will enforce a ‘strict no boys allowed’ rule that will see all of the male drones unceremoniously evicted to conserve resources. Next spring Simon plans to oversee more absorbing experiential learning opportunities, such as demonstrating the steps required to prevent swarming (natural colony propagation), the process of splitting hives and of course, different methods of collecting some delicious honey!
The aim of the Ecology and Land Stewardship BSA module is to engage students in hands-on activities that contribute in a meaningful way to the land management of the Estate. Our students will get to experience, and we hope fully appreciate the different ecosystems on their doorstep, from studies of the bees in our orchards and biodiversity surveys in our wildflower meadows, to setting floating footprint traps in our moat to check for the presence of otters, water voles and mink.
The maintenance and health of our ancient woodland is paramount too of course. In November we armed the students with bowsaws and loppers and sent them into our Deer Park to help Gardens & Grounds Manager Guy Lucas and his team remove invasive species. The removal of non-native shrubs such as Cherry Laurel and Rhododendron will encourage native woodland flora and eventually trees to regenerate in the area, increasing the overall biodiversity of our woodland and creating a happier, healthier ecosystem.
‘Bees & Trees’ is just one example of the BISC’s desire for students to appreciate the beauty and diverse ecology of the Estate all around them, and with the UN Sustainable Development Goals firmly in our minds, get our BSA students thinking about how their own actions affect the natural world around them. Speaking at the Principal’s Teaching and Learning Award for International Education Innovation ceremony earlier this year, Patrick Deane said,” The impact that this initiative has on students’ self-awareness at the BISC is so very clear and commendable. They will be able take this with them through their education and beyond.”