STAFF and students at Woodfield Academy got together on Monday in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as butterflies.
The attempt was part of a project looking at the local environment and came on the day that BBC Springwatch presenter Chris Packham spoke of Britain facing an ‘ecological apocalypse’ with ‘birds and insects hurtling towards extinction’.
However at the Studley Road middle school pupils are doing something about it, having planted a vegetable garden and created a ‘bug hotel’ and bird boxes.
They also keep and care for their own chickens and are in the middle of a potato growing contest.
“Our plans for next year include creating an outdoor classroom area and planting to support butterfly and bee lifecycles and provide overwintering habitats,” said teacher Claire Taylor, who co-ordinated the record breaking attempt.
“As part of our schools work we want to highlight the decline in butterflies and transfer our learning to the local community.
“Therefore we went for the world record to promote this and hopefully spread the word about what our local community can do to support our local pollinators.”
The record breaking attempt also saw head teacher Steve Bond release a collection of butterflies to pollinate nearby plants and flowers.
In all 496 people took part in the record attempt and the school will now submit the evidence for the official award.
