School Outreach
Thank you to The National Heritage Lottery Fund for providing grant funding to allow this project to become a reality.
Why is outreach important?
Outreach is a crucial component of wildlife conservation. It is an effective way to share information, encourage learning and stregnthen understanding. This is vital for creating support and helping to inspire others. Outreach is especially helpful when educating about lesser known species, that are harder to encounter or notice within busy, daily lives.
Session are used to teach and discuss about a topic with the participants. Engaging with past experiences and existing knowledge allows people to connect with the subject and form a better understanding!
Why bats?
These sessions are primarily focused on teaching children about bats. There are a few environmental reasons as to why bats are more difficult to connect with. Due to being nocturnal, during the summer when the days are long, it is hard to see a bat as they only emerge very late in the day. During the winter, the days become shorter, but they also become colder. The drop in temperatures causes bats to be less active and start hibernation. These seasonal challenges may make it harder to connect with or experience seeing bats in the wild.
Apart from the difficulties of spotting bats in nature, there are many myths and stories that give bats a scary or bad reputation. Some of these are encountered in our daily lives, such as associations with Halloween and vampires, being evil entities, drinking blood, appearing in horror movies and COVID-19. Due to this, conservation and understanding for bats can be difficult. One of the ways this can be overcome is via social change, and it is crucial that more support is gathered so that these species can be protected. Having said this, change is not going to happen overnight, but a great place to start is the education of children.
How can I get involved?
Previous outreach sessions have been run by members of our lab, but it is equally important for these recources to be available for schools' to use on their own as well! Below you can find links to all the resources (with guidance!) that you may need to run a bat session of your own.
If you have any questions about running an outreach session yourself, please contact us on northsomersetbats@bath.ac.uk
If you are interested in helping the bats by creating a bat box for your house, please read more here
What does the session cover?
Aims the outreach programme:
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Raise awareness of UK bat species, their role in ecosystems, and conservation issues.
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Foster curiosity about local biodiversity and inspire wildlife stewardship.
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Provide interactive, curriculum-linked experiences with real-world applications.
Target Audience:
Key Stages 1–2 (ages 5–11)
Adaptable sessions based on age group and curriculum
The sessions:
- Introduction to UK bats via video (included in resources below)
- Debunking myths quiz (e.g. bats and blindness, bloodsucking)
- Activities to aid in understanding and exercise creativity and active listening
Here you can watch the video that is provided in the resources section:
Resources
To run a session you will need:
- Powerpoint presentation
- Guide on running on outreach session (word doc)
- Includes instructions for echolocation game (activity option)
- Having the right Bat-titude poster
- Making paper bats document (activity option)
- The confidence to give it a go!​​
Click on the links below to download the relevant content:
After the session, you can use and display the accreditation banner on your website, social media and on poster boards!
The ATT file is a zip file that includes the poster, accreditation banner and the video.
Testimonials:
"Year 4 thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the North Somerset Bat Conservation workshop. The children found the session highly engaging and inspiring, sparking their curiosity and encouraging them to learn even more about woodland animals and their habitats. The workshop complemented the science curriculum brilliantly, providing meaningful real-life links to classroom learning, and was presented in a way that was accessible and enjoyable for all pupils." (Ashcombe Primary School)
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Click on the links below to check out more testimonials from more schools:
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Mead Vale Community Primary School
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"The session was pitched perfectly for our KS1 children and was an excellent workshop during our Science Week. The children loved the echolocation game and could recall lots of facts after the session. Dani and Rachael were absolutely brilliant! They shared their knowledge about bats and how to care for them in the environment in a fun, age-appropriate and enthusiastic way. The activities were engaging and inclusive to all children. The pens and seeds were a hit with the children too! We would definitely welcome them back and absolutely recommend them." (Cheddar First School)