Pupils aren’t an incy wincey bit scared as class on spiders gets hands-on

While Halloween passes us by for yet another year, children at Gad’s have been up to their necks in a creepy crawly that many people would run a mile from – the spider.

The youngsters swapped pens and paper for sticky webs when they learned about the invertebrates’ life.

As part of J5s (year 5s) lesson on animal habitats, parts of the school have been transformed into a haven for British bugs, complete with frames perfect for spiders to spin their web in.

There are about 650 different species of spider in the UK ranging from tiny money spider the Minute maro to the huge Cardinal spider with a leg span of more than 10 centimetres!

While the mere mention of spiders might put some people off, Gad’s students - according to class teacher Mrs Caroline Henwood - have been delighted to get up close and personal with these critters, with many have standing fearless in the site of the eight-legged arachnids.

She said: “Spiders are often hugely misrepresented and often labeled as ‘scary’ or ‘spooky’, so the main point of the lessons is to teach children about animal science and welfare, and help them overcome any fears they might have.

“By involving a physical study of spiders outside of the classroom, the children can see first hand how amazing and incredible spiders really are, enabling to understand and consolidate what they have been learning in class.”

As part of the lessons the youngsters have been taught that spiders consume millions of household and agricultural pests, but 31 species are now listed by the Government as being in need of urgent conservation action.

Mrs Henwood added: “In an addition to creating a home for spiders and observing them in their natural habitat, pupils have also been set the task of writing mock-letters of support to a newspaper after a featured article criticised spiders, to further their interest in the project.”

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