Living Rainforest One of the topics Year 8 girls have studied in geography this term is the structure, functions and global importance of the Amazon rainforest.Since our funds would not stretch to flights to Brazil we were happy to settle for a trip down the A34 to Newbury.
Once they had all acclimatised to the extremely hot and humid conditions inside the two rainforest houses the girls were given two tours by education officers.The first was entitled ‘amazing adaptations’ and focussed on how plants and animals have adapted to suit living in a rainforest environment.The second was called ‘Sustainable Future’ and helped students to explore the idea of sustainable development and its implications for different peoples, places and environments, using specific examples from tropical rainforest regions.It makes the connections between ecosystems, human needs and students’ own lives.
The girls encountered plants such as the giant taro or elephant ear plant which has the biggest single leaves in the world and the pitcher plant which grows pitcher shaped bags in order to trap insects.There were plenty of other things to see as well, such as the Boa constrictor, red bellied piranhas, red billed toucans, pygmy marmoset monkeys and the salmon pink bird eating spider (all behind glass fortunately).
One memorable moment was when Imogen Parker fainted either from heat exhaustion or lack of food, but luckily Helena Brook was on hand to catch her very skilfully before she hit the floor.
There was a huge amount of information to take in and the girls listened carefully and asked some excellent questions.Before we left for Leamington they couldn’t resist the lure of the home made ice creams and the souvenir shop, but it was well deserved.Thank you to Mrs Hilton and Mrs Frydman for giving up their time to help with the visit.
![[email this page]](/images/email.gif)
![[print this page]](/images/print.jpg)
