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The pupils at Harrysmuir Primary School have been taking part in a Hedgehog Accreditation Programme run by the Hedgehog Friendly Campus supported by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

To attain Hedgehog Accreditation, they had to complete different tasks over a year. These tasks were about raising awareness about hedgehogs and taking action within the school and local community.

For each task completed points were awarded. The Accreditation awards are Bronze, Silver or Gold.

First each class elected a Hedgehog Champion, these champions shared information about hedgehogs with their own class. This information was about what hedgehogs eat, what they looked like and their habits. We then held a drawing competition for our younger pupils.

They carried out bug hunts to see if our school grounds would provide enough food for a hedgehog to survive and we also looked for potential hazards. Litter is a problem for hedgehogs so they carried out litter picks in school and the surrounding area. P5s created nests for hedgehogs using leaves and twigs and P7s created posters to share facts about hedgehogs too.

Having learned about hedgehogs in school the pupils started to notice hedgehogs in our local community which was very exciting.

The next steps will be to continue to monitor our grounds, put a hedgehog house in the school garden and share more hedgehog information with our local community.

Mrs Carder, principal teacher at Harrysmuir Primary said:“The children have thoroughly enjoyed finding out how to help hedgehogs survive in the wild and I would encourage other schools to sign up to the Hedgehog Friendly Campus at it has been a great experience for all.”