Geography Pre-IB Rewilding Project

On Tuesday the Geography Pre-IB class came into school to put into practice their fieldwork skills; this is invaluable preparation for the Internal Assessment in Year 12. We have been studying the concept of rewilding and intend to apply this to our school site by asking the key question: "How wild is our school site?"

To do this, we investigated land use and surface type and the number of trees and tree species, looking in particular for native oak and beech trees. We also investigated the number of wildlife conservation features, such as bird boxes, log piles and untrimmed grass.

We collected information about the microclimate (small-scale weather conditions) such as temperature, wind speed (using anemometers) and wind direction (using "bubble tests"). We then had fun mapping this data, producing a giant map with isotherms showing temperature, located proportional squares for trees and wildlife conservation features and arrows to show wind speed. 

Our key findings were that although the vast majority of the school site is covered with manufactured materials or managed garden space, the areas where there were more trees, such as Primary, had more wildlife conservation features.

The sports pitches and areas away from the buildings to the East tended to be the warmest locations; areas closer to the buildings were generally shadier and cooler which included the more wooded Primary play area. 

The buildings cause wind pattern disturbances, which were quite complex. This information will be useful in planning our next steps: "How could we make our site wilder? Why should we do this and how?"

There are many opportunities for this, including tree planting, ideas for pollinator gardens and insect shelters. We are excited to make our proposals known to the Student Council. Hopefully, we can help make our campus a "wilder" site soon.

Kate Bayford

Geography Teacher