SPCA’s Live Education Webinars are returning for Term 3!

The ‘P’ in SPCA stands for ‘prevention’ – and that’s what our Education team is all about.

This is the team who work tirelessly to provide our early childhood education centres and schools with the resources they need to teach young tamariki about animal welfare.

Whether it’s through our SPCA Instructional Readers, our Kind Matters Newsletter, resources on our Teachers’ and Kids’ Portals, or in-person visits out in the community, the team is using education to encourage a kinder generation of animal guardians in the future.

SPCA’s Live Education Webinars are designed to be a fun, interactive and engaging way for students to learn about animals and their welfare – and since the webinars have been introduced, they’ve so far proven to be a huge hit with teachers and students alike!

“We’re really pleased with how the webinars have been received,” says Christy Kalksma, SPCA’s National Education Officer. “It’s always great to see how enthusiastic the students are - they love getting involved and sharing what they know.”

Christy holds four 30-minute webinars (via Zoom) each term, aimed at both primary and intermediate aged children.

“We cover a range of animal welfare topics in the webinars, and each webinar is supported by activity sheets. These give teachers an easy way to check on student learning.”

The webinars help students learn all about animal care, animal welfare, what it means to be a responsible animal guardian, and the role SPCA plays in our communities.

“The webinars can either be used as stand-alone learning experiences, or they can be used in combination with our SPCA unit or single-session lesson plans,” says Christy. “We like to give teachers the flexibility to use the resources in the way that works best for their classroom.”

The feedback from teachers have been very positive:

• “Christy was great – her voice was clear and calm, her wording easily understandable. I liked that all the links, zoom meeting info etc was in one email. The girls were a bit disappointed that the webinar had to come to an end!”

• “This was a highlight of the week for my nine year old. The kids loved the stories, and answering the questions during the webinar. Looking out for the cow to make sure they could answer the quiz question was also a highlight!”

• “We LOVED being able to have their questions added to the live stream! Really liked the opportunity to ask/answer questions during the sessions.”

• “Thank you so much for such a clear, concise, and well-structured series.”

Spaces for the webinars are limited, to ensure effective dialogue can be had with all those in attendance. Spaces do fill fast, so teachers are encouraged to register on the SPCA Teachers’ Portal, and sign up early!