A wonderfully wild day helping to care for creatures at a Kent wildlife park is in store for the winner of a writing competition for children.

The author of the best entry in the competition will spend the day taking charge of Wildwood in Herne Bay – touring the park with a keeper, helping to open up in the morning and maybe even helping to feed the animals.

Marketing manager Dan Farrow explained: “We’ll give them a uniform and a lanyard that says ‘boss’ on, and they’ll go into various departments and boss people about.

“We open at 10am, so if they can get here about 9.30am, we’ll give them a checklist of things to help with – making sure the shop is tidy, for example. Then the plan is for them to take a tour of the park and help take pictures of the animals for our Facebook page.

“After lunch they’ll go round with a keeper and hopefully help to feed the animals – though we’ll leave the keeper to handle all the really weird food!”

The 40-acre woodland park is home to more than 200 native British animals, including bears, lynx, beavers, wolves, arctic foxes, red squirrels and owls. It also supports conservation work.

“We are very serious about caring for both our animals here in the park and those species in the wild, so this is perfect for a child who loves animals or nature,” Mr Farrow added.

The competition, which is run by the KM Charity Team, is open to primary school children in Kent, Medway, Bexley and Bromley. Entrants need to write an account of their journey to school – the things that happen, who and what they see, who they talk to and how they feel. The best account will win the prize.

The closing date is Friday, March 16. For more information, or to enter, visit www.kmcharityteam.co.uk/writingcomp

• The KM Charity Team’s walk to school projects are supported by White’s Transport, Ashford International Hotel, Orbit, Volker Highways, Countrystyle Recycling, Golding Vision (part of Golding Homes), Specsavers, Eurostar, Kent County Council, Medway Council, London Borough of Bexley, Three R’s Teacher Recruitment, Maidstone Borough Council, Ashford Borough Council and Whitefriars. Visit www.kmwalktoschool.co.uk for more information.