FinS finished for another year!

Now that summer has ofFISHially began, our exciting project ‘Fish in Schools’ (FinS) has been successfully completed. All 15 schools involved in this project have done a brilliant job looking after their brown trout, learning about our native species and releasing their fish in to local burns.

Through caring for fish in their very own school hatchery, over 370 children in the Clyde catchment developed their scientific and team building skills. Teachers reported that the pupils became environmental stewards and had a newfound pride for their local environment.

“The children were able to feel responsible throughout the project. Each child was given the opportunity to look after living things and learn the science behind what they were doing each day. Even children with barriers to their learning were able to be fully involved in all aspects of the curriculum.” –FinS Class Teacher Feedback 2018

All pupils involved did a FINtastic job monitoring the temperature of their hatchery, which was not an easy task, especially with the closure of schools during the epic snow week that Scotland experienced at the end of February! Our scientists at the Clyde River Foundation were delighted with all the artwork and wall displays created by each class, it really showed us just how much knowledge and passion the children had for the project. The classes then entered our video competition, where they communicated their learning in a fun way. The winning class was rewarded with a ‘Meet your river’ day out, hosted by the Clyde River Foundation.

This year’s competition winners were St Bartholomew’s Primary Schooland we were delighted to be joined by Tracy Lynch of the Gregg’s Foundation for the day. During the course of the day, the team of biologists from the Clyde River Foundation demonstrated how real-life scientists collect and interpret information from a river, and the pupils had the chance to try out these techniques for themselves!

We also worked closely with Eastmuir Primary School throughout FinS to develop the project for children with additional support needs, allowing the children to participate in outdoor activities focused around their local river. We are very excited to work with them again and continue to grow and develop FinS to be as inclusive as possible.

FINally, all new schools who took part received a customised poster summarising their involvement in the project whilst leaving a Fish in Schools legacy within their school. We would love to extend a huge thank you to all schools who took part and we cannot wait to start planning all the FIN and games for Fish in Schools next year. The impact this project has had on the children who took part is truly inspirational and as scientists, receiving this feedback directly from the children is unTROUTedly a positive result!

“I really enjoyed learning all about the life cycle of the fish, it was such an experience to have actual fish in our classroom, this was the best science class ever”

“It was really cool to see the fish grow from tiny little eggs at first into bigger brown trout ready to be released into our local river.”

–Children who took part in FinS 2018.