Guardian Angels RC Primary School in Birmingham explain why they decided to make a difference to the declining bee population.
The declining bee population was brought to our attention by the school caretaker. His passion for bees and explanation of why bees are so important encouraged us to find out more and try and do something to help. We also had a beekeeper visit school and explored how bees are essential for producing fruit and vegetables. A video clip showing the food choices available to us with the help of bees vs the food choices that would be available if there weren’t any bees deeply shocked us.
We visited Birmingham Botanical Gardens to find out more information and held an assembly for the whole school to get everyone involved in the Great British Bee Count. We also made lots of posters to put around the school and a leaflet to give out to parents for information. Some of our posters were even put up in local shops.
We felt it was very important to get the support of our local MP and councillors so we wrote letters to them in our literacy time. Liam Byrne MP came to visit us and after listening to our concerns he promised to raise the issue of the declining bee population in Parliament and on 16th July 2014 that is exactly what he did. We are very proud that our question is recorded in Hansard!
We had a bee themed disco to raise money to buy wildflower seeds to give to parents to plant in their gardens and around the local community. The money raised also went towards materials for making ‘Bee Homes’ to place around the school grounds.
Finally, we were lucky enough to be interviewed by Free Radio’s Fox & Guiliano’s Morning show where we were able to spread our message about the plight of bees to their listeners as well.
Did you know that bees help pollinate hundreds of our main crops including apples, strawberries and tomatoes? The UK has lost a shocking 20 species of bee, and a further quarter are on the red list of threatened species. A big reason is that bees depend on flowers for food – and in the past 60 years 97% of our wildflower meadows have disappeared.
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