Posted December 5, 2023 in Corporate Sponsors
MHA gift educational trip for pupils of local primary school to Colchester Zoo!
MHA, are a Corporate Sponsor of Colchester Zoo and sponsor both the Lost Madagascar Express Road Train and Tiger Taiga habitat at the Zoo. MHA decided they wanted to push their support even further by enabling a local school to visit who had not previously been to the Zoo.
Colchester Zoo provides free educational sessions and offers a highly reduced admission rate for educational visits. However, it has proven difficult for schools this year to fund educational trips due to the rising costs of coaches. The price of the coach usually outweighs the cost of entry into the Zoo and the trip then does not become viable for the school who also have to take into consideration the price for the parents/guardians.
MHA are a huge supporter of Colchester Zoo and our mission of conservation and understand the importance of reaching the younger generation to educate them about wildlife and how they can help the wild world. Therefore, they were keen to fund a school trip for pupils to participate in the Zoo’s specially designed ‘Christmas Penguin Educational Experience.’
Colchester Zoo provided a list of local schools to MHA who had not previously visited with their students and Sir Martin Frobisher Academy were randomly selected to receive a funded trip for not 1 but 2 classes to attend.
The educational visit took place on 17th November and the pupils enjoyed the day at the Zoo but also participated in the Christmas Penguin Educational Experience where the children meet Father Christmas himself and received a small penguin soft toy, as well as a close encounters with the Penguins and learnt all about this amazing species from the Elves which included links to the National Curriculum.
“It was an absolute pleasure to be able to welcome pupils from Sir Martin Frobisher Academy. Thanks to MHA’s funding and support, we have been able to educate a group of youngsters who one day now become conservationists of the future. For the pupils to have the chance to visit the Zoo and to not just see but hear and smell the animals gives them an immersive experience that will stay with them forever and hopefully leave them feeling closer to nature.”
Andy Moore, Colchester Zoo’s Director of Science, Education and Training
“We’ve been supporters of the Zoo for several years, but we really wanted to explore ways we could extend this to benefit the local community. We were excited to sponsor this initiative to allow children from the local area to visit the Zoo, learn about conservation and enjoy seeing the animals. We’re so pleased to hear the day was a success and the children had a fabulous time!”
Ryan Swann, Partner at MHA
“The children absolutely loved it. They came back with such huge smiles on their face. So many of them mentioned how they had never seen some of the animals in real life and most of them have never been to the zoo or thought they ever would! They were so grateful.”
Miss Amy Bland, Key Stage One Lead and Humanities Co-ordinator at Sir Martin Frobisher Academy
Following the visit, Colchester Zoo and MHA received lovely feedback from the Academy including some quotes from the pupils which showed just how special and impactful their visit was.
“I never knew what a real tiger looked like, it was so fun to see one in real life. I have never been to the zoo before and didn’t think I ever would.”
“I loved seeing a zebra, it was really cool. Thanks so much to the zoo for this trip. It was so fun! I have never been to the zoo before.”
“I can’t believe how close I got to seeing penguins! It was such an amazing experience. I have never seen any of the zoo animals in real life before, so it was so amazing to be able to do so.”
From these quotes you can tell that MHA’s initiative to fund this visit has made a huge difference to those children who perhaps would not have had the chance to visit a Zoo without this support. Colchester Zoo are very grateful for MHA’s continued support and hope to work with them and other businesses in the future to provide more opportunities like this to the local community.
