Planting seeds in our classroom we spotted a worm in the compost. Several children knew that earthworms are good for the soil but this one was different. It was a flatworm and Mrs Brown knew that might be a problem.

An Invading Species

Unfortunately  this type of flatworm eats earthworms. We discovered that these flatworms came from New Zealand in plants years ago and spread through parts of Scotland reducing the numbers of earthworms. What were we to do with it?

Research

We found different websites which gave different advice so we sent texts to three experts. The gardener, a sweet ex nursery teacher said, “They should be killed.” Our Environment expert, Mrs Stewart, also did some research on line and said maybe not such a problem as was first thought. An Population Zoologist  said, “It is difficult to teach children about invading species and respect for nature. The children went home and asked if there were other flatworms in the area and apparently there are in several places.

RME

The children all considered what they knew, thought and believed and we realised this was a decision we had to make with our hearts as well as our heads. Some children were clear that the responsible thing to do was to kill it. Others hoped to train it to eat flowers, others wanted to get a hedgehog to eat it and one passionate response was, “Keep it for a week and learn about it!”

Science

We then did a survey of the playground and found 7 more flatworms and 50 earthworms. The children spent time comparing and contrasting the species which we kept apart.  We returned the earthworms in  compost to an area of the playground where there were no flat worms and the soil needed some improvement. It is quite likely that it got into our open compost bag over the winter in the playground and returning it to the same place would make little difference to the environment. The flatworms were returned to the flower bed in the car park which has little soil and no sign of earthworms. It is near to where the first one was found but not connected to other soil. It is under our Green Flag which the children felt was fitting. We are not sure what happened next but half an hour later there was a very happy magpie on the fence.