"Trout in the Classroom"
“Trout in the Classroom” has been the Wandle Trust’s award-winning core educational project since we developed it in 2001 in partnership with Thames 21. This year, we’re grateful once again for the generous sponsorship of Thames Water and the Sofronie Foundation.
Every December we visit participating schools to install specially modified aquaria, which are then seeded with trout eggs from the Environment Agency’s Sparsholt College in Hampshire. Each trout tank aims to reproduce the natural conditions of river life for the little fish – with the advantage that “Trout in the Classroom” success rates are generally much higher than the 10% survival rate in the wild.
From January to March, the kids watch the eggs hatch, and then look after the developing “swim-up fry” until they’re ready to be released into their local river. The project always captures the kids’ imaginations, and they find the prospect of nurturing their own baby trout extremely exciting.
Teachers agree that elements of “Trout in the Classroom” link seamlessly into almost all areas of the National Curriculum, and the kids themselves learn valuable skills as they clean the water in the tank, make sure it stays at a constant temperature, and draw up responsible rotas for feeding the little fry.
Finally, they’re proud to attend their “release days”, usually at the end of March. These usually attract huge media coverage, and the kids can often find themselves on national television, on radio and in the newspapers. It’s an experience not easily forgotten, and all the evidence shows that the kids are encouraged to look after their local rivers and environment for years to come.
In past years, we’ve run “Trout in the Classroom” projects in the Wandle Valley and as far afield as Sheffield, Shropshire, Wales, Winchester, and the West Country.
For details of the 20 schools taking part in our 2007/8 project, please click here.
Here’s what some of the kids have said about “Trout in the Classroom”
“It was fun watching the fish swimming around in their tank and also watching them grow. It was quite exciting watching the fish being released and being put back with their family, plus they will get used to being by themselves”
“Thank you for letting us go to the river and I hope to come and see the trouts again when they are big, so they will go in the river and become real fish”
“We have taken good care of the trout, they are very cool. They are the best fish we could get”