A Simple and Exciting School Project!
Dear Teachers of Congleton,
We are excited to invite you and your students to take part in Our Disappearing Nature, a project supported by the Royal Society. This initiative will compare the complete database of Congleton’s plant life (~460 species) from 1915, held in our museum, with the plant species found in the area today (at least 200 recorded on iNaturalist recently). By analysing these changes, we aim to understand what has disappeared, what new species have emerged, and how our local ecosystem has evolved.
The project will culminate in two major exhibitions:
- Summer 2025 – A public display in Congleton Park, showcasing the research findings. This will be in the polytunnel area as part of the Congleton in Bloom Congleton Community Gardening Festival, open to the public at weekends.
- Winter 2025-26 – A museum exhibition exploring the causes behind these ecological changes.
How Can Your School Get Involved?
We understand that school schedules are busy, so student participation is designed to be flexible and engaging. This project is easily integrated into your Forest school or outdoor learning sessions, allowing different age groups to take part in a way that suits their learning level:
- Younger students – Engaging Bingo-Class Cards to find plants from 1915.
- Older students – Observation sheets to record their findings alongside Bingo-Class Cards.
- Advanced students – Using iNaturalist to document plant species across different areas (full guidance and instructions provided).
We will compile data from participating schools into a shared database, which will be featured in both exhibitions. This will provide a fascinating insight into how Congleton’s natural landscape is changing.
Next Steps
To register your school’s participation, please fill out our registration form, where you can provide your contact details, indicate which classes will take part, and choose the most suitable participation format. Based on your preferences, we will tailor the experience to fit your school’s needs.
There is a special date – City Nature Challenge – when people from all over the world will be out surveying their green spaces (25-28 April 2025). Any observations made, for example, on Friday 25 April will be part of this international survey. We are happy for observations to be made on 25 April, but also on other dates when your students are available to record their observations up until 30 June.
This is a fantastic opportunity to engage students with nature, history, and science in a meaningful way, while supporting outdoor education through the Forest School/learning outside the classroom ethos.