We need your help NOW! Vote for our Dragon in Tesco stores Oxford!

From 31st October – 13th November PLEASE DO ALL YOUR SHOPPING AT TESCO STORES IN OXFORD AND VOTE FOR OUR DRAGON!

Following on from the huge success of our living Hazel Dragon in Magdalen Woods, Going Wild have teamed up with Jane Gallagher from OPA, Julian Cooper Oxford City council and Stuart Turner to make another huge dragon, this time woven from living willow in Spindleberry Nature reserve in Blackbird Leys, Oxford.

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Stuart Turner, the land artist who created the first Magdalen wood dragon will also bring this dragon alive so …….

She will be enormous, she will be playful and she will be awesome!  

To make this possible we applied for a grant and are thrilled to say our project has been shortlisted for a public vote in Tesco’s #BagsofHelp initiative!

To win the top prize we need you to vote for us in store!

You can vote in Tesco stores 31st October – 13th November on who should receive the £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 awards.

Bags of Help offers community groups and projects in each of Tesco’s 416 regions across the UK a share of revenue generated from the 5p charge levied on single-use carrier bags. 

Follow the link to see the Oxford Mail’s article all about it.   http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14808097.Vast___39_living_dragon__39__coming_to_Blackbird_Leys_beauty_spot/

Reminder – This Sunday 25th September at Kew Gardens – mini den making and storytelling under one of Kew garden’s oldest trees

Location – Kew Gardens, London

Date – This Sunday, 25th September

Sessions: 12-1.00pm, 2.00pm-3.00pm and 4.00-5.00pm

Come and join Fiona and 1 for a fun-filled hour of miniature den making and storytelling under the branches of one of Kew garden’s oldest trees

More information and tickets http://writeon.kew.org/events/the-den-book-workshop-3

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Come and create your own story and make a mini den with us at Kew Gardens, Sunday 25th September

We will be at Write on Kew gardens literary festival on Sunday 25th September.  Come and join in on one of our workshops where we will be meeting some amazing tree characters and having a go at creating some mini dens for wild imaginary creatures.

Workshops at 12pm, 2pm and 4pm.  For tickets and more details see http://writeon.kew.org/events/the-den-book-workshop-3

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Teachers Gone Wild! KS2 outdoor learning training day – London Zoo

Are you a KS2 teacher?  If so, come and join us for a fun training day at London Zoo.

Going Wild have partnered up with The Discovery & Learning team at ZSL London Zoo to create an exciting outdoor learning CPD opportunity for KS2 teachers. 

Cost: £55 per teacher

Capacity: 40 participants

Includes: Entry to Zoo, training, refreshments, lunch and a copy of a Going Wild book (choose from the Stick book, Wild Weather or Wild City book)

Date: PLEASE NOTE  that we have sadly had to postpone this event in September.  We will re-schedule it, so please keep an eye out on our website for news if a new date.

Location: Discovery & Learning department, ZSL London Zoo, Outer Circle, Regents Park, London NW1 4RYF

Going Wild

This event aims to:

  • Build confidence and empower teachers to use outdoor spaces with their classes
  • Give fantastic ides for a range of outdoor science activities linked to the working scientifically strand of the KS2 national curriculum
  • Inform teachers of the cognitive, social and emotional benefits of getting their students learning outside
  • Inform teachers of ZSL London Zoo’s learning programme and how teachers can enrich classroom learning with out of classroom visits (and use these spaces better with activities onsite!)

Learn all about a range of practical ways to engage your students in outdoor environments using specific practical tasks that link to science and cross-curricular subjects.

The training will take place in a range of indoor and outdoor spaces across ZSL London Zoo where you will undertake a range of activities covering a range of topics that include, but are not limited to, exploring biodiversity (an easy-to-do bioblitz!), food chains and interdependence (food chain totem poles!), comparative and fair testing (parachutes for stickmen!) and observing change over time (ice windows!).  We will also ensure you have some time to explore the Zoo at the end of your day.

As part of your ticket, take home one of the Going Wild books of your choice (from The Stick book, Wild Weather or Wild City book) to plan activities for your students back at school!

Bored? Nothing to do? Go outside and build a den this half-term for a chance to win The Den Book!

The Den Challenge…Go outside and build a den this half term.  You can build it in your garden, in the park, in the woods, anywhere you have permission.  Build it out of cardboard, rubbish from the recycle bin, over the trampoline, under the garden table,  throw a rug over a washing line….be creative….have fun!

Send a photo of yourself in your den to us on facebook (Going Wild) or tweet it to @goingwildnet using #thedenbook for a chance to win a copy of The Den Book.  We will be giving away books every month to the best entries.

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Discover the wilds on the edge of London. Family day out, Saturday June 25th, Woodfarm, Harrow

On Saturday June 25th Harrow Nature Conservation Forum will celebrate the opening of Harrow’s latest public wild open space. Wood Farm is 24 hectares of meadow, ponds, scrub and woodland in the north of Stanmore, close to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Shree Swaminarayan Temple – Dharma Bhakti Manor and the Husseini Islamic Centre. The views over London are remarkable, and with the help of the board at the site you can pick out nearby landmarks such as Alexandra Palace and Wembley Arena, all the familiar London landmarks, and the more distant hills of Crystal Palace and Box Hill. It is the best site in Harrow for breeding warblers, while on warm days the wild flowers are busy with butterflies and bees.
The opening event on June 25th will have something for everyone. The Appreciating Animals petting zoo will be free for children and accompanying adults. Children will also enjoy storytelling by Pippa Reid and Vivien Keiles, as well as pond dipping, building bug houses, and a collection of animal skulls and snake skins to handle. For adults we’ll have guided tours of the site, telescopes to look over London, and a wide range of stalls and exhibitors.

The event, which is free to all, will begin at 12 noon and run to 5 PM. The entrance is on Wood Lane, Stanmore, post code HA7 4LG. Car parking is available at Shree Swaminarayan Temple – Dharma Bhakti Manor next door. Alternatively, take the 142 bus to the Little Common stop and Wood Farm is a ten minute walk away along Wood Lane.

For more details see the web page at http://www.harrowncf.org/SCP_home.html