A School Animal Centre: Education, Animal Care, and Conservation

Wolverley Animal Centre (WAC) is Wolverley CE Secondary School’s very own conservation and animal education facility. It houses over thirty species, ranging from common pets such as rabbits and tortoises, to exotic and farm animals like blue-tongued lizards, meerkats, and goats. All of these animals are rescued or re-homed, and cared for deeply by the school community. WAC is a training centre for Kidderminster College and those seeking BTEC Animal Care qualifications, but also a safe space for students to develop interpersonal, life, and academic skills.

Pupils learn independently about animal facts (did you know tortoises can smell with their throats?), care instructions (and Pet First Aid!), and dos and dont’s (like petting bunnies, not brown snakes…) Through colour-coded signage, they safely and responsibly build decision-making skills. And even though not petting a brown snake may seem an obvious choice, it is the explicit why’s behind these rules, embedded in the lessons, that help foster compassion and respect for all creatures and their environments, not just our pets.  

For those pupils who do not have pets nor previous contact with animals, the Centre levels the playing field: it provides them with hands-on opportunities to care for different species and learn about wildlife challenges and conservation efforts. Through adaptive teaching, pupils are paired with a range of animals to suit their needs. For example, geckos for fine-motor difficulties, snails for more nervous students, and  goats for those who already care for horses at home. The centre ensures students build their self-confidence by seeing the progress in the animals they look after and by knowing there is a role for everyone at the WAC. Pupils also develop valuable life skills, as they are entrusted with cleaning animals’ environments as well as their own workspaces, and expected to be organised and responsible. This way, while they carefully select the best fruit pieces for the sugar gliders in their care, they learn that healthy eating and grooming are essential to their own wellbeing too.  

At Wolverley, Animal Care takes place in a scenic location outside the main school buildings, with plenty of outdoor areas where bigger animals can exercise freely. However, it is only spatially disconnected from the other courses, as the subject offers plenty of cross-curricular opportunities. Animal names and terminology are a window to languages; places of origins and habitats refer to Geography; healthy diets relate to Food Technology; anatomy and environmental challenges tie into Science; and measuring food quantities, weighing animals, and recording data means covertly developing mathematical skills.