Beloved ducklings say farewell to Fareham school

Pupils from Heathfield Special School in Fareham had been nursing some duck eggs before they finally hatched last week.

The project was inspired by previous work at the school, where pupils watched some caterpillars turn into butterflies.

The children have been nursing duck eggs given to them by a nearby branch of Incredible Eggs.

Assistant headteacher Hazel Soffe explained: ‘The children absolutely loved the caterpillars, so we wanted to do something a bit bigger for them.

‘We had an assembly where I gave them some clues about some special visitors that would be coming to the school. I think a few of the children managed to guess it straight away.

‘It was a brilliant project – the children were absolutely fascinated by the ducklings and it also gave them the opportunity to show their parents what they were up to at school.

‘We ended up broadcasting the ducklings being hatched live on Facebook, which allowed the parents to get involved with the school activity, which was great.’

The school gave the children the chance to name the six ducklings after they hatched – they came up with Donald, Hewi, Rocky, Custard, Lexy and Kany.

Hazel added: ‘Naming the ducklings was an idea that linked to some of our school work. At the moment we’re looking at the theme of rights and everyone having a right to a name.

‘The children were devastated when the time came to give the ducklings back to Incredible Eggs. I think they had become rather attached to them. But we will definitely be doing it again.’