Loving Child loves its owl friends
A mating pair of owls have made their home at Loving Child Montessori.
Loving Child Montessori is the haven of two new, proud parents and two spotted eagle owl chicks.
Owner and head of the school, Aadila Ismail, explained that she first noticed the owls around the school on 5 August. She had heard their calls before and had thought they had made their nest in a gap in the roof on previous occasions but she had never seen them until this year.
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Aadila saw the female owl, who has been named Hermione, settle in a flower box on the upstairs window of the school on 7 August. The first egg was spotted on 9 August, and another two eggs followed.
Although Aadila does not normally like birds, the staff and the children have enjoyed watching the owls, Hermione and Hedwig (the male), and even incorporated their presence into the education programme. The Grade 1s did a research project on owls and presented it to the lower grades.
In the week of 11 September, two of the eggs hatched and were named by the children from a selection of names Aadila had picked out. The children decided on Nashca, which is the Native American word for owl, and Gyan which means wisdom or knowledge in Sanskrit.
Once the chicks have grown up and the owls have moved on, Aadila plans to have the children make an owl box in the hope that the owls will return and make a home there. Aadila asked residents around the school and in Sycamore Avenue not to use rat poison as the owls are hunting in the area.
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