Year 7 visited the Natural History Museum at Tring.
The Natural History Museum at Tring was once the private museum of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild, and is located on the grounds of the former Rothschild family home of Tring Park.
Pupils were excited to learn about the types of animals that were brought to the
estate by Walter, and how he grew his museum from a shed in the garden to the magnificent building that we see today.
As the class wandered around the galleries, pupils were able to get up close and personal
with the taxidermy exhibits and even touch some of the skins, furs and shells of various
animals.
Each pupil picked their favourite animals and birds:
Rex liked the squirrel monkey and the palm cockatoo
Rauf liked the lion and the snowy owl
Jack liked the gorilla and the peacock
Zain liked the lynx and the eider bird
Prabhlok liked the proboscis monkey and the albatross
Jack liked the gang gang cockatoo and the lemur
The temporary exhibition at the museum was the 2024 Young Photographer of the Year
images. Year 7 took some time to study the images before each deciding on our favourite.
Pupils were very fortunate to have a hands on fieldwork experience with two of the
museums teachers, Jo and Eleanor. Their investigation looked at the impact of humans on
biodiversity in the surrounding area. Year 7 conducted scientific studies in a small patch of
grassland adjacent to the car park and the same studies were repeated in the meadow. Pupils created their own 7m x 7m grid area and random sampled sections using a
photometer to measure light, thermometer for temperature and a soil probe for depth.
They recorded the plant life and animal life in each sector. Finally, everyone was given
the chance to use a sweep net to capture and identify any invertebrates that might be
present in the area.
