The Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust Schools Quiz has been a massive part of our charity's history. It has been running for nearly 50 years, and has inspired thousands of primary school children over the decades about wildlife.

The knowledge and enthusiasm of the school children is very impressive. After a high stakes final this summer, St. Marks, Cheltenham were the proud winners! 360 children from 72 schools across Gloucestershire took part this year and we had lots of new schools signing up. The quiz can be the start of a lifetime love of the natural world and is a fun and challenging opportunity for the children in participating schools.

We can't run the School Quiz without the support of our volunteers. We are looking for volunteers for the following roles next year:

• A volunteer area coordinator and a scorer for Gloucester
• A volunteer area coordinator and a scorer for South Cotswolds
• A volunteer area coordinator and a scorer for North Cotswolds

The roles would involve going to primary schools in the area to deliver the quiz for about 10 matches between March and July. The coordinator role and scorer don’t have to be separate roles, but it is helpful having a second person to support. It could be a nice opportunity to do with a partner or a friend! It’s a really rewarding experience to see children getting excited and being inspired by wildlife  - something we need more and more of with children spending more time indoors than ever before, and with the climate change affecting nature at an alarming rate.

We offer full training and support for these roles and volunteers will be asked to complete a DBS check (organised and paid for by GWT). Volunteers can claim expenses for milage/public transport for the role.

We had a couple of vacancies this season which meant staff having to cover, but we ended up struggling to cover all the work in the learning remit. We may struggle to run it next year without volunteer support so anyone who is able to help would be amazing.

Please contact volunteering@gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk for more information!

_{(Below: Our 2024 winners - St. Marks in Cheltenham!)}