Bees at Greatwood

For those of you that do not know, we actually keep bees here at Greatwood. We have three qualified beekeepers here at school who are registered with the British Beekeeping Association. 

Who are our beekeepers?

Mrs Bealey

Mrs Smith

Mrs Yeoman

What kind of bees do we keep?

We currently have one colony of bees here at Greatwood. They are honey bees.

Where do you keep the bees?

We have had a special area purposely built in our school grounds which is called an apiary. The bees live in a wooden hive which was built by Mrs Bealey. We have a second hive (built by Mrs Yeoman) for next year when we will hopefully have two colonies.

How many bees are in one hive?

Honey bee colonies consist of a single queen, hundreds of male drones and 20,000 to 80,000 female worker bees. 

Beekeeping Club

Every Friday night our apprentice beekeepers meet. We now know all about:

• The different parts of a bee
• The life cycle of a bee
• The different 'jobs' that bees have in the hive
• The Queen bee and how to spot her
• We have even tasted honey straight from a frame in the Greatwood hive!

What our Apprentice beekeepers say:

Edward: I learnt how to mark the Queen bee and why we mark her.

Jack: I learnt that when the bee hatches it comes from a cell not from an egg.

Mathew: I have learnt that there is more than one type of bee.

Rachel: I have learnt how to mark the Queen bee.

What we have enjoyed:

Edward: I really enjoyed spinning the honey.

Jack: I enjoyed learning about the different jobs that the bees do.

Rachel: I really enjoyed spinning the honey.

Mathew: I really enjoyed spinning the honey and learning about all of the different bees. 

The children are really looking forward to the Spring when they can visit the apiary. 

Click on the links below to find out more about  bees:

Honey Bee Facts for Children

What bee is this?

Bees in School

Bee and Honey Quiz