Big Schools' Birdwatch

Kate Sefton, Potton Lower School Teacher, says: “Today we conducted the Big Schools’ Birdwatch, so as a whole class we went outside onto the school field and we sat for nearly an hour to observe all the different birds and wildlife that were coming into our school grounds.”

Children walk across the playground into their school field. A teacher hands out clipboards with bird identification sheets. A blackbird flies away. The teacher asks: “Where do the birds live? Where might we find them?”

Kate Sefton says: “We spoke about the different ways that you could identify a bird, so we thought about staying still and actually listening to hear the different sounds. We thought about the different colours of the feathers, beaks, their feet and legs. We also thought about what foods they might be eating and where we might find them, so where were we going to look outside.”

Children stand at a table and watch the birds around them. A long-tailed tit pecks at suet in a feeder. The children gather around a clipboard and excitedly note down what they’ve seen. 

Kate Sefton says: “The RSPB has provided some wonderful resources online. We’ve been able to follow an average lesson format that I would do for any other lesson and directing it to be specific to the Birdwatch.”

A girl watches through binoculars as a greenfinch flies from a tree.

Kate Sefton says: “There’s definitely something in it for every age group, directly to learning objectives, going through the National Curriculum Learning Objectives but also going down to Early Years Development Matters statements as well. There’s just so much that can be gained from all of them, but also what they’re gaining out of it socially.”

A group of children is outside watching birds in their school grounds and recording information on their clipboards.

Kate Sefton says: “When we got back into the classroom, we – as a whole group – used the interactive whiteboard to actually bring up the website.”

Indoors, the children sit at their desks and take it in turns to come up to the interactive whiteboard, showing the Big Schools’ Birdwatch website.

Kate Sefton says: We could input the data directly onto that as a group and the children were able to submit it themselves. I really didn’t have to do very much at all. The pictures were bold and bright and the children could identify the birds that they had seen and it was a very straightforward process just to press the button the right amount of times so they could enter how many birds they had seen. It really got them thinking about how our location may be different from others. They were looking at the data they were entering in the grand scheme of things, and it really got them thinking, and it really got them understanding this was a nationwide project they could contribute to.

Outside, a robin perches on a bird feeder.

Kate Sefton says: “It’s been wonderful to listen to them leaving to go home saying about what an exciting day it had been, and how wonderful it had been, and they wanted to go and do a Birdwatch at the weekend. It’s just been amazing, it’s been a great day.”

Outside, the teacher points out some birds to a girl using binoculars. A jackdaw flies over.

Kate Sefton says: “Other teachers should definitely take part in the Big Schools’ Birdwatch, because it was great fun for me as a teacher to build some wonderful relationships with the children, and we’ve been citizen scientists; we’ve helped the RSPB which means in the future we’re helping to give nature a home.”