Pupils from a special school in Grange-over-Sands have ‘boxed off’ a project with their local branch of The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Children from Witherslack Hall School have been working with the RSPB at Leighton Moss to create a range of nest boxes and homes for a variety of birds, bats, hedgehogs and insects as part of the charity’s ‘Homes for Wildlife’ programme.

The pupils have now handed over these animal homes to the reserve and helped to site them with the help of their construction skills teacher, John Kneale-Jones and the lead field teacher, Maggy Lightfoot.

John Kneale-Jones said: “The pupils at Witherslack Hall have been members of the ‘Wildlife Explorers’, the junior membership of the RSPB, for a number of years, so we have formed a fantastic working relationship with the staff at the reserve.

“The pupils have learnt so much about the protection of wildlife and have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this project.”

Maggy Lightfoot said: “The RSPB is trying to inspire people of all ages to make a real difference for the range of wildlife that share the open spaces closest to them.

“The children have been a delight to work with and have helped us enormously. All the staff at Leighton Moss look forward to further projects with the school in the future.”

Witherslack Hall School is a 38 week residential and day special school in Cumbria which caters for boys aged between 11 and 19 with complex learning needs and challenging behaviour. It is one of eight schools and four children’s homes run by The Witherslack Group, which offers education and residential care to children with special education needs.