Did you know that there are 270 types of bee in the UK and over 2 trillion bees in the whole world? That’s what the children of Norton Hill Primary School, Midsomer Norton, have been learning about this week as part of their learning focus on nature and the environment.

Children from Reception class, Years 1 and 2 enjoyed a talk from two bee experts: Marcus Collings, a beekeeper and rescuer from ‘Lakeside Bee Services and Live Bee Removal’ and Krisia Watson, of ‘Watson’s of Norley Wood’, a bee farmer and seasonal bee inspector; came to speak to the students about fascinating bee facts, bees importance to the environment and the work they do in rescuing and caring for bees.

Marcus - a former Warrant Officer in the British Army- has spent the last few years building his Hampshire business, where he keeps 20 colonies of bees, as well as offering his services in the West Country and Hampshire in removing bees safely and humanely from buildings and homes. His colleague Krisia Watson runs a bee farm, where she often re-homes the bees rescued by Lakeside Bee Services as well as inspecting beekeepers around the country to ensure the welfare of the bees in their care.

Together, Marcus and Krisia offer training to various individuals and organisations in beekeeping, as well as delivering educational talks to schools.

As a STEM school, Norton Hill Primary classes have a clear focus on natural science as part of their learning and were able to offer a challenging question and answer session to their visitors, impressing the experts with some thoughtful and mature questions such as enquiring how Royal Jelly is made!

The children learned lots of valuable information about bees; such as their necessity to the survival of humans with their pollinating of much of our fruit and vegetables and even headteacher Mrs Waterhouse said she had a new understanding and appreciation of bees after the talk!

Marcus and Krisia were also able to reassure the audience about the passive nature of bees and not to worry about stings!

As well as the bee facts, Marcus demonstrated some of the key equipment he uses in his removal of bee colonies such as a thermal camera, ‘Bee Hoover’; which allows safe removal of the bees as well as a special, smaller carrier just for the Queen Bee.

Most exciting for the students was the introduction of the drone, which Marcus uses to view where the bees have set up from in otherwise inaccessible places.

The visit from the experts has inspired the children to continue their bee-related learning and research in the classroom, including studying the example of a honeycomb in the school’s dedicated ‘STEM’ room.

One student from Year 2 has also enquired about joining a ‘Bee Club’ and how to train as a junior beekeeper! They are now able to share with their families a new appreciation of the amazing life and importance of these amazing creatures.