Sarah Hookway

Teacher, Head of Science, Nature lover, Owned by house rabbits, Winner of BBC Wildlife Blogger Awards 2015, Winner of IOP Teachers Award 2021

[Mark Roberts @mr_englishteach]

COMPETITION- I'm giving away 3 signed copies of The Behaviour Whisperer, to help teachers improve behaviour as the academic year starts. Simply RT to enter. Lucky winners will be drawn out on the evening of Thursday 12 Sept.

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

Destruction of a precious ancient bluebell woodland in the Kent countryside under a deluge of illegal landfill waste shows the utter failure of environmental law, complete inaction by the authorities & increasing lawlessness in the UK. Let me tell you the story of Hoads Wood 🧵

[@NatureNerdTech #Wildcasting 🇨🇦 @NorfolkBea]

You are putting wild lives at risk every day. Every excavation you leave uncovered @WeAreOpenreach poses a serious risk of injury or death for #hedgehogs & other animals. A responsible corporate citizen would go beyond what is required by law. It would have taken only a moment for your operatives/contractors to make the site wildlife safe.

[Sarah Hookway @SHookway88]

@vftpottingbench The Island of Missing Trees is the most memorable book I’ve read this year! Amazing!

[Sarah Hookway @SHookway88]

Today, we held an astronomy day for Year 9 students. They rotated between five sessions, four of which were run by our Science teachers (exoplanets, solar system models, constellations and space probe launchers), the fifth was a fantastic planetarium show by @360xperiences!

[Sarah Hookway @SHookway88]

Just a little flooded around the #LocalPatch today, with some of the final leaves waving like flags on a mast in the wind.

[🌱SEEDBALL 🐝 @seed_ball]

Remember to check bonfires 🔥🦔⚠️ before lighting or lay them on the day of burning; a pile of sticks looks like a comfortable nest to a night-roving hedgehog looking to bed down for the day.

[Sarah Hookway @SHookway88]

Afternoon spent reading a good book by @alomshaha, learning some extra science stories to weave into lessons, alongside the last of the dahlias in the sun with a cup of tea = a good Saturday 😊

[@NatureNerdTech #Wildcasting 🇨🇦 @NorfolkBea]

Petition now at 1726 signatories with 2000 in reach by tomorrow end of play.
Have 172 days from tomorrow to get 100,000 needed for debate…so only 😱 98,274 to go…that works out to minimum 572 folks signing every day until 29 February 2024 closing date.
https://t.co/1dOonUJjyK

[Jamie Mayville @JammyPhysics]

Have contacted lots of secondary schools in Cambs, Peterborough & Northants, but if anyone in these regions wishes to get free physics cpd, support, resources, equipment and more. Please let me know for more info.

Please also retweet.

@STEMLearningUK #edutwitter @ChatPhysics

[Joel Ashton 🍃🌳🍃 @_JoelAshton]

PLEASE HELP 😔👇

Last year, I went to see a couple in their 80’s to discuss renovating an old #wildlifepond which has mostly dried out. Unfortunately, due to the husband’s health, they now have many unforeseen costs and can’t afford it.

The lady called me yesterday very distressed, due to the neighbours.
Since I visited, the neighbours (in their 60s) have complained that her existing wildlife pond has been the cause of their garden flooding.

This is rubbish.

Where they live in London has a naturally high water table and, although living there for many years and always complaining that the ground stays pretty wet (the neighbours - even before the pond was dug by the husband many years ago), have continued to cite the pond as the cause of the issue.

I was shocked to hear that since I visited, the neighbours have coerced the lady into having a perfectly healthy and old cherry tree removed, proclaiming that the tree has been putting water BACK INTO THE GROUND! Plus, they had told her that it was dead, as it had Ivy growing on it.

Not wanting to make the situation with her neighbours worse, after receiving further verbal abuse over her fence, she reluctantly agreed to have the tree removed, at her own expense! Guess what, it wasn’t dead.

Since this (yes there’s more!) and on top of rising care costs and daily visits to see her husband, who has been in care since February, the harassment hasn’t stopped.

They have now demanded that the existing pond be filled in since, surprisingly, the removal of the tree hasn’t made a scrap of difference! 😖

It was at this point (this week) that the lady phoned me and asked for advice. I told her NOT to fill the pond in, as this would (in my professional opinion of 18 years of working with the land and ground water) only push the water elsewhere & would by no means solve the issue, and another habitat would be lost in the process.

I also suggested giving the neighbours my phone number and have them call me so I could explain the situation. The lady then passed on this message and I was appalled to hear that their response was: “No, I’ll get somebody in and send you the bill!” followed by further threats and verbal abuse.

I have suggested calling the police as she is receiving daily abuse from the neighbours. She has said she will consider this, but I am concerned she is too worried about causing herself extra hassle, so is considering legal action which, will no doubt stretch their finances further.

They have no children and no close relatives to help and I am very concerned that this poor lady is struggling with all this on her own.

I am in touch with her regularly, but can only offer so much help and advice.

All they both want (apart from the husband’s health to improve) is a wildlife pond to sit by together, when the husband returns home.

I am therefore starting a GoFundMe page to try to help them with potential legal costs, care costs and also to create them a new, sustainable and lined wildlife pond, which they’ve both wanted for years. I am happy to donate what I can in terms of the labour and plants.

If you can, please help by clicking on the link below and donating whatever you can. I’ve never done anything like this before, and know that times are hard for everyone, but I really want to help this couple out.

Thank you and please share this far and wide ❤️

[Mary Colwell @curlewcalls]

Are there any secondary school teachers out there, especially from inner city schools, who are keen to teach the GCSE in Natural History? Please either DM me or write to: [email protected] #teachers #GCSENaturalHistory #nature

[Sarah Hookway @SHookway88]

@B_Strawbridge When a similar thing happened locally to me, although on land owned by parish council and when I was on the parish council, they fenced off the area to allow recovery and invited the boys and their parents to a parish council meeting to discuss how they could make space for them.

[Youth STEMM Award C.I.C @YouthSTEMM]

This would make a great activity for Youth STEMM Award participants over the summer break! 🐝🌻
⬇️

[Sarah Hookway @SHookway88]

First time visiting @RSPBLeightonM yesterday. Amazing wildlife and a beautiful reserve. This red deer hind and her fawn put in an appearance at one of the hides 🥰 (quick snap of camera screen). Thank you for a lovely day, and for the tips shared at the welcome desk!

[Sarah Hookway @SHookway88]

@CathHodsman I also loved this book when I read it!

[Niall Alcock @NiallAlcock]

Line up for #CurriculumThinkingWeekSummer2023 looking👌

Huge thanks to everyone who's nominated colleagues to celebrate work and submitted sessions.

📺50+ talks
📝75+ resources from
📚20 subjects
added to the full programme from Jan.

RSVP by 29/06
https://t.co/WqqVEjz8V7

[Sarah Hookway @SHookway88]

@JulieFitzsimon1 We can accommodate any specialism 🙂

[Sarah Hookway @SHookway88]

We are advertising for a permanent Science teacher at our lovely school. Come and work with some of the most lovely and supportive colleagues I’ve had the fortune to work with. Can I ask the science teacher network to share as widely as possible?

https://t.co/AwK5FP3sRt

[Sarah Hookway @SHookway88]

Thank you for the retweets so far!

[Sarah Hookway @SHookway88]

@BealeScience @chemDrK @cogscisci @ChatPhysics @ChatSci @ChatChemistry @chatbiology