The schoolchildren exploring urban gulls

Hatching the idea 

When teachers and students at Hannah More Primary School in Central Bristol were contacted by a neighbour, who was being kept awake by bird noise, it was discovered seagulls had been nesting on the roof of the school building. 

In exploring possible solutions, the students began to express interest in finding out more about the striking species, considered by many to be a pest. In his role as Special Projects Producer at We The Curious, Julian Welsh reached out to offer support. 

But why set out on this collaboration in the first place? At We The Curious, we’re committed to creating space where anyone can be a part of the research process, as part of our Open City Research manifesto pledge. Helen Della Nave, Head of Open City Research, describes this pledge as focusing on, “making research more accessible to as many people as possible and at the same time, improving the quality of that research by having more diverse voices present". 

With support to dig deeper into a part of nature that stood out to them, Hannah More’s students set out on a journey, not just to learn about science, but to have their voices heard. 

A fledgling project 

To support the students to deep dive into the wonderful world of seagulls, Julian consulted with the School Parliament and approached Peter Rock, one of the UK’s leading experts on urban gulls. 

After more than forty years spent researching and regularly ‘ringing’ gulls, the birds are now able to recognise Peter. Having gathered more than a few insights into the lives, behaviours, and natural history of these amazing creatures, he was more than happy to share these in a whole school assembly.  

The next step for Julian was to work with the children to build up a picture of their most pressing questions and ideas about gulls, by collecting and categorising student’s comments thematically. 

What emerged varied from child to child, with some focusing on the bird’s less popular, ‘pest-like’ traits, such as scavenging food, and others sympathising with and appreciating the perhaps-misunderstood creatures. 

The children’s questions collectively explored the intriguing dynamic that occurs when different species like humans and gulls end up sharing close quarters in a city like Bristol. 

Taking flight 

To encourage the children to embrace a new perspective and experience Bristol and their own school site from a gulls-eye-view, we recorded drone footage from the roof of the school and overhead. Billy, an artist based a stone’s throw away from Hannah More Primary School, then partnered with us to support the students to create seagull-inspired live drawings in chalk, using their own playground as a canvas.

The project culminated in a vibrant mural on the school playground, incorporating brilliant visual elements identified by the children and inspired by their deep dive into understanding gulls. The chosen themes ranged from gameplay to relationships and food.  

Two exhibits, highlighting the children’s ideas, will also be showcased at We The Curious this summer. In addition, Hannah More’s School Parliament and Eco Group are also due to visit the venue in the coming weeks in recognition of all the excitement and enthusiasm they have brought to this project and to build on the fantastic foundation it has provided for future opportunities to work collaboratively, bringing together students and research.  

Teachers at Hannah More Primary School reflected on the benefits of children being able to apply their science learning to a real-world situation and take a leading role in determining what they wanted to explore. 

“Our children have loved learning all about seagulls with the brilliant We The Curious team – the way the children have been able to co-create the project has been fantastic for their confidence and creativity and it’s not the sort of thing that we would be able to do within the day-to-day curriculum.''

Hannah More Primary School Headteacher, Kevin Hawkins 

Learnings and looking ahead 

One key takeaway for We The Curious has been the importance of building trust with communities like Hannah More. Longer-term relationships like these create opportunities to develop a strong foundation and collaborate on projects that are meaningful and authentically driven by participants. 

This project has been exciting step in this important journey for us, as we strive to develop more effective ways to support increased agency of schools and communities in engaging with and ultimately determining the direction of science. 

For Hannah More’s students, they’re already gearing up to tackle another project close to their own lives and experiences. In a recent meeting between Julian and the School Parliament, the children expressed an interest in investigating air quality for their next research project, opening the door to potential conversations with other local schools, industry and the wider community. 

The opportunity for us to come alongside children from a local school and develop a project where students can engage with research and have their thoughts and opinions heard, has been both a rewarding and significant one. 

This partnership has resulted in some fantastic learnings for science centres like We The Curious to look ahead to the ways in which we could support children to be more firmly in the driving seat of scientific research, with their voices leading the way.