Insect Week
The smallest animals in the school grounds, at the size of a dinner plate.
- Dates
- June - dates set by the Royal Entomological Society
- Key stages
- EYFS - KS2
- Session length
- 45 - 60 minutes
- Formats
- Up to 6 sessions a day
About this date
Insect Week is run by the Royal Entomological Society to get people looking properly at insects. It is the natural moment for a minibeasts day, and it lands in the summer term when the school grounds are at their most alive.
Minibeasts in VR does the thing a magnifying glass cannot: it makes a ladybird the size of a dinner plate, holds it still, and lets thirty children look at it at once.
What pupils will learn
The science they take away
A date on the calendar is the hook. These are the curriculum outcomes the day is built to deliver.
- 01Pupils observe insects closely enough to name their body parts and describe what each part does - the observation skill the KS1 and KS2 curriculum keeps returning to.
- 02Classes group minibeasts by observable features, practising classification with animals they can find in their own grounds afterwards.
- 03Pupils connect insects to the jobs they do - pollination, decomposition - rather than treating them as things to be squeamish about.
- 04The class builds a food chain from creatures they have just watched, including what happens when one link disappears.
What's included
One price, nothing to arrange
Everything below is part of a standard booking. Your school provides a large indoor space, a parking space to unload and a member of staff in each session.
- A DBS-checked facilitator leading every session across the day.
- A fully networked class set of VR headsets running our own minibeasts content, with hygiene kit used between every class.
- Risk assessment, public liability insurance certificate and DBS details emailed to your school office on booking.
- Follow-up activities including a minibeast hunt for your own school grounds, written for KS1 and KS2 separately.
Workshops for this date
What we can run on the day
Pick one for the whole school, or run two alongside each other in separate spaces.
Key dates
When it falls, when to book
Insect Week is organised by the Royal Entomological Society and falls in June. Confirm the current year's dates with them, then tell us what you have chosen - any June date suits a minibeasts topic equally well, and summer term dates are the easiest in our calendar to secure.
Questions schools ask
Before you book
When is Insect Week?
It is run by the Royal Entomological Society and falls in June. Check the current dates on their website, then tell us what you have picked. Most schools book a date in the surrounding week rather than a specific day.
Is it better to do this outside?
The workshop runs indoors in your hall, and it works well as the start of the day - pupils see the creatures up close first, then go out into the grounds afterwards knowing what to look for.
Will it work for Reception?
Yes. Minibeasts in VR runs from EYFS to Year 6. For the youngest classes the session is shorter and led more closely, with more naming and less classification.
Some of our children are frightened of insects. Is that a problem?
It is usually the opposite. Seeing a bee or a spider calmly, at a size where its features are obvious and with a facilitator talking through what it is doing, is one of the better ways to take the fear out of it. Tell us beforehand and we will keep an eye on those children.