To kick off the new academic year, Animal Management hosted an Employment and Conservation Day where all new students got the chance to meet employers, explore the Puxton Park campus, take part in activities and investigate different prospective career paths.

The day began with a tractor ride around Puxton Park to familiarise the students with campus, where they also explored one of the dairy farms outside of Puxton that they will be involved with later in the year to see how it is run differently to the one onsite.

After the learners were more familiar with their surroundings, they headed to Puxton’s theatre where they received talks from both lecturers and employers, and students got the chance to hear different pathways open to them, both after they complete their course and for their work experience hours.

The lecturers outlined their previous experiences including working at Bristol Zoo with a range of different animals, training sea lions, and even saving species of birds that were on the brink of extinction. By sharing their career history, the students got a wider understanding of the possibilities available to them and the different animals they could work with.

Following this, the learners heard from employers from Harmonious Dogs, Noah’s Ark, and Reptile Zone, where they introduced themselves and what they do. Harmonious Dogs brought in two dogs to show the students how they train them and provided a meet and greet for the students to interact with the dogs. Reptile Zone also made their talk interactive by bringing in an African dwarf crocodile and a panther chameleon which the students could hold at the end.

Reptile Zone also brought in one of Weston College’s Year 2 Level 3 students who volunteers with them to show that these careers are achievable and realistic to all the learners in attendance.

By providing the students with real-life experiences from both lecturers and employers, it allows them to consider different pathways depending on the kinds of animals they want to work. They also got to see the types of employers that Weston College works with so they can make connections themselves and start thinking about their futures.

After lunch, the Conservation Day commenced and was made possible by organisations called RoAM (Records of the Avalon Marshes), where volunteers who specialise in recording wildlife of the Somerset Wetlands came in to outline what RoAM is, discuss the importance of it, and how students can help, as well as setting up activities to help the students understand and get them involved.

The students were split into 5 groups and set up near the pond on different stations. These stations included plants; media; aquatic life; dragonflies and damselflies; butterflies, moths, and crickets, and all had different members of RoAM who specialise in the different species.

At these stations, learners had 15 minutes to learn about their station specie that they may not have been previously exposed to with activities like plant identification, moth trapping, and pond dipping – where they got the chance to use a microscope and look closely at animals, algae and microbes and view all the intricate details of the small little beasties.

This type of wildlife and species would not always be considered by the learners when contemplating working with animals but is a rewarding professional that, thanks to the volunteers at RoAM, has now been brought to the attention of the students.

Joseph, the Technical Demonstrator for Animal Management, said “overall this day was a success and hopefully opened up a new interest for students that haven’t had the experience with people who work with our native wildlife”.

Thank you to the employers and organisation members who took the time to visit our students and share their knowledge and experiences. This has broadened the learners’ mindsets and career opportunities.

If you're interested in joining one of our Animal Management Courses in September, click here.