Apiary and Education

Help support our Apiary and Education projects which are designed to support children in schools to learn about the environment and pollinators.

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Thanks to a generous legacy from a beekeeper, Jim Hopkins, together with donations from the public and corporate sponsors, the BBKA has been able to complete work on the office building and apiary garden to provide the facilities needed for an educational centre aimed at schools and community groups. Children are able to visit with their school class and learn about the importance of honey bees, pollinators and beekeeping in a relaxed and informal environment with the highlight of each visit being the chance to watch from behind a bee-proof mesh screen as a beekeeper opens a hive. 

We offer a relaxed, informal learning environment where children are encouraged to participate and ask questions to enhance their learning but we need your help to enable us to continue to be able to offer these free of charge visits.  

We also offer a support package for our Associations to assist with the excellent work they do with school outreach in their local area.  As part of this package we provide the following equipment and resources:

• Observation hive
• Children’s bee suits
• PowerPoint Presentation
• Resources and instructions for a variety of craft activities
• Template for an activity pack 
• Mileage expenses for volunteers

This package enables our Associations to expand and develop their work with local schools by arranging visits to talk to the children about beekeeping and pollinators and offering a selection of hands-on activities for the children to get involved in.

Lots of children get ‘bitten by the bug’ by learning about bees and beekeeping in this way and, with their interest in beekeeping awakened, will hopefully return to it in later years. It’s imperative that we train a new generation too as the average age of a beekeeper in the UK is currently 65. 

We encourage schools to become more bee friendly and aware of the importance of all pollinators by becoming a 'Friend of the Honey Bee'.  It is free to join and all schools receive a certificate, stickers and a termly newsletter which contains ideas for creative activities to enhance teaching and learning as well as highlighting the threats which bees face. 

We will also be working with these schools to help raise awareness of the Yellow-legged Asian Hornet, the threat it poses to bees and the importance of reporting all potential sightings.

Please give generously so we can continue to offer these valuable educational initiatives!