School rewards good behaviour with fieldsports trips

Schools in Yorkshire have begun offering fishing trips in return for good behaviour, after successful school trips to Fairview Fishing lakes.

Mick Bradbury, who owns the two fishing lakes, is hoping to build a classroom on site and create two new, small lakes for the exclusive use of the children.

“A lot of these kids would never have the chance to go fishing, and it’s great to see the difference it makes,” he told the Yorkshire Post. “Some of the schools now do Hook a Book, where if the children read so many books they get the chance of an afternoon’s fishing. I knew how well it was going when some of the kids persuaded their parents to bring them back during the school holidays.”

The Countryside Alliance runs a similar project called Fishing for Schools. The programme offers a short-course for children – often with special educational needs – who find academic work difficult but respond well to alternative learning.

This is a benefit Bradbury witnessed for himself when he was helping a young boy with autism.

“He came with his school and I sat with him and showed him the maggots we were going to use as bait,” Bradbury recalled. “As soon as he saw them he was shrieking and screaming and he ran back to the school bus. We managed to get him back, and showed him how to fish.

“A few minutes later he was putting the maggots on the hook himself, without really realising what he was doing. I pointed it out to him and he said ‘Yeah, I did that’ and grinned. He ended up catching the biggest fish of the day.”

Read more about Fairview Fishing’s school visits