The group: Northbrook Met College Inclusion Unit Summer 2022

The lowdown: We were lucky to have hosted six wonderful students and three teachers from Northbrook Met College Inclusion Unit to our Brooklands Park Teaching Apiary, and make the most out of our outdoor classroom space.

The crew : An amazing bunch of mixed ability College students with mild/moderate learning difficulties, behavioural or social needs.

Edu Session: A two-hour training workshop introducing beekeeping and covering Pollinators, Pollination and Pollinators decline; the Honeybee Hive, species, types and castes; the queen bee, drone and worker roles and responsibilities; the honeybee lifecycle; inspections and the beekeeping year. In the final hour we suited and booted up, covered off the Apiary H&S rules, and entered the Apiary where we inspected Queen Honeybun and Queen Luna. Both colonies were very well behaved, and the students were amazing, considering this was their first visit to an apiary.

In summary: Caroline, one of the teachers from NorthBrook College, commented: “What an absolutely fantastic opportunity for our students to experience something so important. Our students thoroughly enjoyed the day which was paced and delivered perfectly for our students. The interactive aspect of the training was so interesting, and Lisa and Celine are so enthusiastic about the project which inspired our students. We very much look forward to coming back to see the progress. They even let us paint a beehive which we loved! Thank you so much.”