Wiltshire school pupils get hooked on angling thanks to Fishing 4 Schools course

Pupils from Pewsey Vale School in Wiltshire have been learning to fly fish at Marlborough College's fantastic angling facilities on the River Kennet this term, thanks to a collaboration between the two schools and our national Fishing 4 Schools (F4S) project.

Six key stage three pupils – Callum Dawson, Zak Awoodun, George Prout, Kahlan and Raye Colgate and Joe Long – visited the prestigious private school each Tuesday to take part in the six-week course, with professional angler and F4S founder, Charles Jardine, Colin Smith and Sean Dempster from the college and F4S instructors Lee Hooper, Rob Doyle and Julie Wicks.

The short course taught them about the anatomy of the fish; they surveyed the river's aquatic insect life, using microscopes to inspect what they found and learnt to tie flies and cast.

Marlborough College teacher Sean Dempster had the idea after meeting Charles Jardine at a country show. He said: "It can be difficult to gain access to fly fishing and it can be prohibitively expensive for children to take part, but it offers some very valuable skills. This F4S course is an opportunity to get children out in the great outdoors and offers a combination of maths, biology and ecology – all without them knowing they are doing it!"

Pewsey Vale student George Prout said; "The course was lots of fun. I caught one trout which was a big achievement!"

And a spokesman for Pewsey Vale School added: "Thank you to Marlborough College and Fishing 4 Schools for the fantastic opportunity our students were able to experience. We look forward to working with them all again in the future."

F4S is a charitable project administered by The Countryside Alliance Foundation that offers short fishing courses that fit into the school curriculum offering an alternative way of learning for children who struggle in a classroom environment.