Hipsburn kids head to Howick!
Thursday 11th October 2012
School kids in Northumberland had a great day out at a quarry this week, all courtesy of Tarmac Ltd.
Thirty-four pupils plus teachers and parents from Hipsburn First School near Alnwick, coupled with a team from Northumberland Wildlife Trust, recently visited Howick Quarry at Littlehoughton. This formed part of the school’s well-deserved prize for scooping first place in the 'Win with Wildlife' competition, sponsored by the international company which operates seven quarries in the county.
Luckily, the sun shone for the youngsters who had a wonderful time dressing up in fluorescent jackets and hard hats, touring the site, climbing into a selection of the heavy earth moving machinery and watching a video of blastings at the quarry.
Tarmac joined forces with Northumberland Wildlife Trust at the start of this year to run the competition for schools in Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside.
Dot Charlton, headteacher at Hipsburn School which serves the villages of Hipsburn and Lesbury, geared the curriculum of the whole school to embrace the competition.
Helped by a team of volunteer parents, the pupils surveyed the school grounds, hedges, allotment, and trees to establish what wildlife they supported.
They also set up a night camera to track which animals visited the grounds after dark.