News
Fungi in Schools
Forays and Workshops
Learning About Fungi
Putting fungi at the heart of student learning
Autumn 2023
Justin Smith Foundation continues the mission to heighten the importance of Fungi being included in the school curriculum as they have long been neglected and taught little in school and earth sciences. Dr Linda Davies, from the Fungal Education and Outreach Committee of the British Mycological Society agrees with this. Read her article ‘Putting fungi at the heart of student learning’ here.
In 2022 Oxford Cambridge & RSA (OCR) announced that their plans to introduce a GCSE in Natural History have been approved by the Department for Education (DfE). Read their announcement here.
If any secondary schools in or near Bristol would like to take part in future projects please register your interest by contacting the Justin Smith Foundation.
We are currently applying for funding so that we can continue offering vital educational projects. If you are interested in donating please get in touch or go to our Just Giving page.
Fungi in Schools project returns
Autumn 2022
The success of the JSF Fungi in Schools pilot project in 2019, and the enthusiasm shown by the pupils taking part, enabled further development of the scheme. It wasn’t possible to run it again in 2020 due to Covid-19, however we were full steam ahead with two new cohorts of KS3 students in Autumn 2021 and 2022.
We also had invaluable support from local amateur mycologist Pixie Swaffield, who collected and recorded interesting fungi species primarily for our Fungi in Schools days. You can read her pdf report here.
Please also read the 2021 and 2022 Report Summaries below to find out what the students thought of their experience.
Fungi in Schools project is launched
October 2019
In partnership with Avon Wildlife Trust and led by Learning Development Officer Lucy Hellier, October 2019 saw our first step realised when Year 7 students from two local schools’ Science Clubs visited AWT’s inspiring six-acre wildlife gardening hub, Grow Wilder (formally Feed Bristol), to learn more about the fascinating world of fungi. Each school group spent a day doing fungi-related experiments, going on a fungi foray, learning interesting fungi facts and discussing their influences on the world around us.
Fungi Forays and Workshops
Our very first Fun Fungi Day was held on Monday 24 October 2016 with the help of fungi experts Joe McSorley (worked at Avon Wildlife Trust) and Rich Wright (Forever Fungi) who led twenty young adults, mostly Bristol University students, on a fascinating journey learning all about fungi. They explored the beautiful surroundings of Folly Farm in the Chew Valley, identifying an impressive 60 different species of fungi between them. Bristol Naturalists’ Society kindly helped fund our first project.
Our second Identifying Fungi workshop was held at Grow Wilder (formally Feed Bristol) on Sunday 7 May 2017. It was a free workshop for budding young mycologists, aimed at beginners and those who already knew the basics about fungi identification and included microscope work.
In April 2019 we supported fungi expert Rich Wright from Forever Fungi on a 3-day Fungi Under the Microscope workshop held at Charterhouse Outdoor Centre in the Quantocks. The residential course covered microscope work, spore print analysis, forays, open sessions and lectures with guest speakers Brian Douglas from Kew Gardens and Emma Williams from the Glamorgan Fungus Group.
