St Bart’s School in Newbury enjoying the exploits of its resident fox, Socks, who loves to steal shoes

It’s not just the pupils who have been returning to one Newbury school this month.

The nature reserve at St Bartholomew’s School, in Buckingham Road, is brimming with wildlife as we enter autumn – with one visitor in particular proving very popular with the students.

Socks the fox has been spotted, with his mate and two cubs, for several months now and the school’s sustainability lead, Anna Barrett, has been following one of his stranger habits very closely.

If you live near the school and have lost a shoe – or two – in recent times, the chances are it could be in the nature reserve.

The shoe collecting habit is known to be one that foxes do exhibit although it isn’t usually seen as clearly and as frequently as it has been at St Bart’s.

New shoes are appearing in the school grounds on a weekly basis now and many residents have playfully commented on social media when their shoes have been picked up by the wildlife camera now installed there.

Miss Barrett, who has recently taken on the role of spearheading the school’s sustainability goals, said she became “obsessed” with Socks after it was mentioned in her interview.

She hopes that by using Socks’ story she will be able to encourage students to be more connected to their local environment and sustainability.

She added: “There’s such a clear connection between a willingness to get involved in sustainability actions and the degree of connection you feel with your local area.

“It’s about getting students to understand how much beauty there is on their doorstep and get involved.

”The idea is to have fun with it as much as possible.”

But the school’s nature reserve is in need of a facelift before it can be made accessible to all students.

The boardwalk was damaged by flooding and the wood is now rotting making it too dangerous, for many pupils to enjoy the area.

So the school is now fundraising to repair it and then it is hoped that the pupils can play a more integral role in the rejuvenation of the rest of the area.

And it isn’t just foxes that call it home – Philip the hedgehog and Barbara the muntjac, along with squirrels, birds and a lot of cats have all been spotted in the school grounds and on the wildlife camera too.

Headteacher Dr David Fitter said: “We’ve done lots already on trying to make the school more energy efficient. Our technology strategy means we’ve cut down on paper waste massively, which is fantastic, but alongside all of that there’s the biodiversity crisis, which is why this is so important.

“But Anna’s role is way more than just environmental sustainability. We’re really focussing on social sustainability as well, which is something our sixth formers are particularly keen on. There’s lots of big ideas.

“It’s such a huge passion of mine personally but is also the right thing to do. We’re really determined to be a super sustainable school on every level and I think that will, if we get this right, really help prepare our students for the world beyond the school, where a real understanding of both environmental and social sustainability is critical to be able to make sense of the world around them and to thrive in that world.”

Deputy head girl Eve Macleod said: “The nature reserve is such an asset to the school. We’ve got this space, in the middle of town, and it just seems like a slice out of reality of life, it’s just a calm, relaxing area and it’s such a brilliant place but at the moment so many people aren’t able to come in here because we’ve got damage to our boardwalks.

“If we’ve got an asset like this in school we need to make the most of it. It’s brilliant in lessons. It can be used for so many things and it’s a really good break from classroom learning, to come out and use a natural, green space and I think it does raise awareness at the same time of the sustainability goals for the school.”

Milo Garrety, deputy head boy, added: “I use the nature reserve here a lot - in some of my free periods or if I need to take some pictures for some of my subjects, it’s a nice place to come out. It’s very relaxing and there’s normally nobody else here. There’s hundreds of flowers, so it’s colourful and a very nice place to spend time.”

Alfie, Alice, Imogen, Asmi, Henry and Sam – all year 8 and 9 pupils - said they thought learning about the environment and having the opportunity to be with nature was really interesting and an important aspect of school life.

They all take part in the school’s environmental clubs, such as moth club and bee club.

If you would like to support the school’s fundraising efforts to improve the nature reserve you can head over to the Good Exchange - where Greenham Trust will match fund donations.

Miss Barrett said that she also hopes to help address eco-anxiety, which studies show more than three quarters of young people have.