Syllabus

Introductory Life Cycle and Ecology Module

[Approx. 1 to 2.5 hours depending on content required]

This will be an educational classroom based lesson supported by a power point presentation.

Introduction and welcome.

Life cycles of Trout and Salmon.

Life cycles of invertebrates from the trout’s food chain.  Covering species and the various stages of their growth such as nymphs and lava expected to be found during the kick sampling exercises and flies expected to be seen on the water’s surface.

Examples of Artificial flies used to replicate these stages of the invertebrate life cycle.

The Habitat where Salmon and Trout live and where the food chain starts with algae and other detritus which the invertebrate life feeds on.

The importance of a healthy habitat and water quality. (Unpolluted and rich with Oxygen)

Safety aspects and respect for the environment.

Fly Tying Module

[Approx. 30mins to 2 hours depending on whether students practice tying]

Educational and classroom based. A demonstration in Creating Artificial flies to represent the invertebrate life seen on the water surface and found in the kick sampling exercises.  (Upwinged fly and Nymph)

Anatomy of a fly.  Identify the various segments. (Perhaps a handout)

Materials and equipment used.

Tying Methods.

Tying of an upwing dry fly and nymph.

Kick Sampling Module

[Approx. 30mins to 1.5 hours depending on content]

A Practical exercise on the River or Stillwater.

Equipment required.

How to identify a suitable area within the habitat for invertebrate life and sampling.

Demonstration in conducting a kick sample exercise and collecting samples.

Separation of insects/bugs into trays for identification of species with aid of check sheets.

Record species and numbers identified to assist with determining water quality/pollution.  Matching the Identified insects/bugs with artificial flies to fish, known as Matching the hatch.

Return samples.

Single Handed (Trout) Introductory Fly Fishing Module

[Approx. 3 to 5 hours depending on time available]

The first part of this module can be completed on the school grounds and students taken to a river or Stillwater to complete the syllabus.

Health and Safety Issues

Assembly of Rod outfits.

Basic Leader setup.

Rod Mechanics.  (This will be tailored in accordance with age group)

Basic Casting Instruction.  (School playing field, river or Stillwater which again will be tailored according to the location and age group)

River or Stillwater activities

Basic River/Stillwater craft skills.  (Again to be tailored to the age group)

Casting Instruction and Line Presentation.

Introduction of Flies and basic knots.

Hooking, landing and releasing a fish.

Fishing session.

Double Handed Introductory Fly Fishing Module

[Approx. 4 to 6 hours depending on time available]

This will be a river based module.

Health and Safety issues.

Assembly of Rod outfits.

Basic Leader setup.

Rod Mechanics.  (This will be tailored in accordance with age group)

Basic Spey casting instruction and line presentation.  (Tailored to age group)

Basic Rivercraft skills. (Tailored to age group)

Introduction of Flies and basic knots.

Fishing Session

Trout Essential Skills Fly Fishing Module

[Approx. 4 hours]

This is a river or Stillwater based module.

Health and Safety issues.

Introduction and explanation to the various Fishing techniques.

River:  Dry Fly, Wet Fly, Nymphing, Duo, French Leader, Czech Nymphing.

Stillwater:  Floating and Sinking Lines, Indicator fishing, Line Retrieves i.e. figure of eight etc.

Selection, assembly and setup of Rod outfits for each discipline.

Selection of Leader setups for each discipline explained, knots, droppers, tapered or level line etc.

Fly selection – Matching the Hatch explained for each discipline.

Advanced Rod Mechanics explained

Intermediate and advanced casting tuition and presentation for each discipline.

Advanced River/Stillwater craft skills.

Stalking and Wading Techniques.

Fishing Session.

Salmon Essential Skills Module

[Approx. 4 hours]

This is a river based Fly Fishing module

Health and Safety issues.

Advanced Rod Mechanics explained

Tuition of Intermediate and advanced casting techniques.

Demonstration of the latest tackle techniques, Spey, Shooting heads and Skagit styles.

Introduction and explanation of the different Fishing Techniques and presentation. Floating and sinking lines.

Leader setups and the appropriate knots explained.

Fly or Tube selection explained for each discipline.

Advanced river craft skills, reading the river, pools and runs, running or resident fish lies, to wade or not etc.

Fishing session.

Example of Typical Course

The Syllabus for the one day courses we currently run is tailor made and pitched for 8 to 11 year old school pupils from the following Modules.

9am:  Introductory Life Cycles and Ecology Module.  [Classroom]

10am:  Fly tying demonstration Module.  [Classroom]

10.30am:  Break.

10.45am:  Single Handed [Trout] Introductory Fly Fishing Module.

Basic Casting Instruction including Health and Safety issues.  [School playing Field]

11.30am:  Travel by School Minibus to River or Stillwater.

Packed lunch at water side.

12.15pm [approx.] Health and Safety issues.

Kick Sample Module.

Single Handed [Trout] Introductory Fly Fishing Module.

Further Casting Instruction and line presentation techniques.

Introduction of Flies.

Advice on hooking, landing and releasing fish.

Commence Fishing.

3 to 4pm:  Conclude and return to School.

Schools River Investigation Module    [Third Party Provider]

The Eden Rivers Trust, in conjunction with Interreg IIIC, developed a programme in 2000-2001 which is now a Generic Education Pack for use primarily by other Rivers Trusts. This is available for download at http://www.theriverstrust.org/education/education_pack.html.  It meets the requirements of Key Stages within The National Curriculum in England and Wales.  Primary ages 4 to 11 Key Stages 1 & 2, Secondary ages 11 to 16 Key Stages 3 & 4.  The Programmes are for a day but can be tailored for half days.

WSA believe the inclusion of such a Module completes the Educational Tool package and will enhance the extra curricula activities within the other modules.

The samples below have been taken from the Eden Project module and are included for guidance.  The Rivers Trust also run a project, ‘The Rivers Visit Scheme’ based on the same content and is available on their website for download.

The Wye and Usk Foundation also have an educational package known as REACH, RE-ENGAGING CHILDREN WITH RIVERS which we believe is based on the Rivers Trust Module.

RIVERS DAY – SAMPLE DAY

Key Stage 2

Full Day (can be adapted for other age groups) Science, Geography and Maths covered in the day.

Sample Day – A Journey down the River Eden (75 – 90 minutes)

A PowerPoint presentation which takes the class on a journey down the River Eden, delivered by our education officer. This is normally a ‘put your hands up and tell me what this is’ exercise where the children are invited to reveal their knowledge of rivers.

It covers:

• The geographical features of the River Eden Catchment. What the words are and what they mean (using pictures)

– valleys, tarns, reservoirs and lakes, source, estuary, floodplain, meanders, erosion and deposition, etc.

• Places within the catchment; the Lake District National Park, lakes, towns and places along the river.
• The habitats and the wildlife of the River Eden including food chains, the ecology and life cycles of certain species found in or on the river and top tips on how to identify them.

Riverside (main part of day!)
The main part of the day is spent river-side and includes the following group based activities:

River Corridor Survey; a simplified form of mapping the river corridor using a key with map symbols to denote certain landscape features.  Pupils are encouraged to recognise the landscape features that they have learned in the classroom together with some new ones, and understand their implications for wildlife and the river environment, and then incorporate them on a map.
Flow rate; measure the flow rate or velocity of the river.

River Cross Section; plot a river cross section (weather permitting); measure and plot the width and depth of the River.
River Dipping; find out what lives in the river.  Using nets, trays and identification keys the pupils collect kick samples of the river inhabitants and identify them.  Once identified using the key, the species found are recorded on a tick sheet.

Conclusion; exhausted and wet we return to the classroom to conclude our day and using the information gathered on the Minibeast Tick Sheets we work out how clean or polluted our river is using the Environment Agency’s General Water Quality Assessment methodology.

And finally!; the activities can be preceded and followed up using the additional information in the Rivers Pack which includes;
– The River Eden
– The River System
– A Food Chain and A Food Web
– Life Cycles
– Facts about Water.

Curriculum Links
Science:
SC2 Life processes and living things – Life processes 1a.
SC2 Life processes and living things – Life processes 1c.
SC2 Life processes and living things – Variation and classification 4a, b and c.
SC2 Life processes and living things – Living things in their environment 5a, b, c, d and e.
Mathematics:
Ma2 Numbers and the number system 2a, i and j, 3b and 4e.
Ma3 Shape, space and measures: understanding measures 4b.
Ma4 Handling data: processing, representing and interpreting data 2b, c and d.
Geography:
Geographical enquiry and skills 2a b and e.
Knowledge and understanding of patterns and processes 4b
Knowledge and understanding of environmental change and sustainable development 5a and b.

RIVERS DAY – SAMPLE DAY

Full Day
Key Stages 3 & 4.  Science, Geography and Citizenship covered in the day.

Sample Day – A Journey down the River Eden (75 – 90 minutes)
A PowerPoint presentation which takes the class on a journey down the River Eden, delivered by our Education Officer.

This is normally a ‘put your hands up and tell me what this is’ exercise where the children are invited to reveal their knowledge of rivers.

It covers;

The geographical features of the River Eden Catchment. What the words are and what they mean (using pictures); valleys, tarns, reservoirs and lakes, source, estuary, floodplain, meanders, erosion and deposition etc.
– Places within the catchment; the Lake District National Park, lakes, towns and places along the river.
– The habitats and the wildlife of the River Eden including food chains, the ecology and life cycles of certain species found in or on the river and top tips on how to identify them.

This is an example of a presentation, but we can also provide presentations on many other subjects, such as the work of Eden Rivers Trust or specific topics, eg. food webs, life cycles, etc.

Riverside (main part of day!)

The main part of the day is spent river-side and includes the following group based activities:

River Corridor Survey; a simplified form of mapping the river corridor using a key with map symbols to denote certain landscape features.  Pupils are encouraged to recognise the landscape features that they have learned in the classroom together with some new ones, and understand their implications for wildlife and the river environment, and then incorporate them on a map.

Flow rate; measure the flow rate or velocity of the river.

Water monitoring; pH, temperature, conductivity and dissolved oxygen.

Plot a river cross section (weather permitting); measure and plot the width and depth of the River.

River Dipping; find out what lives in the river.  Using nets, trays and identification keys the pupils collect kick samples of the river inhabitants and identify them.  Once identified using the key, the species found are recorded on a tick sheet.

Conclusion; exhausted and wet we return to the classroom to conclude our day and using the information gathered on the invertebrate recording sheets we work out how clean or polluted our river is using the Environment Agency’s General Water Quality Assessment methodology.

RIVERS IN THE CLASSROOM