Outdoor Learning in the the Outer Hebrides
The work of the Outdoor Learning Team in the Outer Hebrides; developing Learning for Sustainability and helping soften the classroom walls
Tim went to Breasclete School to explore the croft land next to the school, there were plenty of invertebrates including a spider who was ‘snacking’ on a fly. The young people used the Field Studies Council fold out charts to identify the species and plants they found and collated the information using cameras and drawing.
Tim was asked by Tong School to show them how they could use the moorland, a short walk from the school, to look at the fauna and flora they could find there.
The class wrote their own journey plan to get out to the moor and they organised the class to get there. When they arrived at the moor using the Outdoor Team’s environmental box they researched the plants and invertebrates they found documenting them with photographs and drawings.
Tim and Andrew headed to Daliburgh School to run some kayaking sessions. There is a loch next to the school and they are looking at how they can make the best use of it as part of their learning. To see how kayaking could be run on the Loch it was decided to run short sessions for young people across the school.
Although it wasn’t the best weather with the rain the wind stayed away and everyone had a great experience. There was then discussion how they travel forwards and make more use of the Loch.
Tim went into Laxdale School and did a day of fire and camp cooking for a variety of classes from the school. We cooked bannocks and roasted fruit kebabs, polishing off the boxes of fruit Tim had brought.
We are in the middle of the busy season, with the team out and about working with schools and young people in the outdoors. There are often questions about ticks and Lymes disease, we thought it would be useful to post some information about what to do if you are bitten by a tick and things you can do to prevent being bitten.
It is important ticks should not stop you going outside but to take a few sensible precautions to prevent being bitten and if you are, what to do about it.
Lymes disease if carried by ticks which latch on and then take a blood meal. The Comhairle have produced a leaflet with information on the disease (CnES Tick leaflet). More information can be found on the Lymes Disease Action web site.
There is an excellent YouTube video produced by NHS highland on how to remove a tick with Dr James Douglas
There is also good advice from the NHS Scotland web site:
Ticks are small spider-like creatures that can be found on bushes and undergrowth in Scotland’s countryside, parks and gardens from spring through summer and well into autumn. Most ticks that bite people are unlikely to be carrying the germ that causes Lyme disease, but there’s no way of knowing at the time. So, it is best to:
You can reduce your chances of being bitten by ticks by:
At this time of year with the good weather is when the outdoor team are in demand. Tim was in Tong School to do the Bronze Youth Navigator Award.
The session started with some time in classroom (it can be done outside but needs good weather otherwise the paper disintegrates) the young people created an ‘island’ on the classroom floor using a rope as the shore and then populated it with buildings and features. They then drew their own map of the island. This give the opportunity to talk about scale, how to denote features with symbols and the importance of the key.
This lead to talking about how important it is to orientate the map and touching on North, South, East and West.
The class were then given a map of the school grounds where Tim had already set out twenty orienteering clippers. With a score card, a map and a quick refresher on orientating the map outside the class set off to navigate around the course around the school.
At the end of the session there was a recap of the essential point of orientating the map and the whole class had completed their Bronze award.
In the outdoor team we are passionate about encouraging everyone to appreciate what is around us. We believe the John Muir Award is one very effective way of becoming connected with the place we live and making the learning place based. There is not a set syllabus, it is up to you how you meet the criteria, and it is open to all (families can get involved, and individuals generally from an upper primary level). If you would like to talk about the John Muir Award and how you can take part in it or use it Contact the Team
This can be the school grounds, an area near your school or something further afield?
Do things which will help you understand and become more aware of your wild place. Experience it.
Do something practical and take personal responsibility for making it better
Let others know about your wild place, what you have done and what you have learnt.
There are three levels of award – Discovery, Explorer and Conserver. There is a time commitment to each and it should be seen as a minimum and the majority of the time should be spent outdoors. There is no upper limit but time can’t be carried forwards to the next award.
Discovery Award – 4 days (or equivalent) minimum time commitment
Explorer Award – 8 days (or equivalent) minimum time commitment
Conserver Award – 20 days (or equivalent) time commitment, over at least 6 months
The Award uses the Head-Heart-Hand Model from Patrick Geddes:
There is a downloadable John Muir Award Information Handbook
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