Category: Primary

Young Navigator Award Scheme

The first term of 2018 has seen a few school groups braving the cold weather to get outside and complete their Young Navigator Bronze Awards. P5 & 6 at Tong Primary had some classes with their teacher Mrs Emmott, and then Andrew and Isi went in to finish up with an orienteering challenge around the school grounds. Whilst they were out and about, we asked them to point out where they were on the map, orientate it correctly to North, and show us the route they were planning to take. They also looked at symbols, scale and compasses. They are now well on their way to being able to navigate themselves around the great outdoors, so parents if you’re planning to take them out feel free to get them practicing!

The John Muir 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

There are four challenges at the heart of the Award:

Discover a wild place:

This can be the school grounds, an area near your school or something further afield?

Explore it:

Do things which will help you understand and become more aware of your wild place. Experience it.

Conserve it:

Do something practical and take personal responsibility for making it better

Share your Experiences:

Let others know about your wild place, what you have done and what you have learnt.

The Levels

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 Thinking

The Award uses the Head-Heart-Hand Model from Patrick Geddes:

 

There is a downloadable John Muir Award Information Handbook

 

Learning For Sustainability : Connecting Classrooms Free ONLINE Course January 2018

Learning For Sustainability : Connecting Classrooms Online Course, January 2018

Over the weekend an invitation to sign up for this event arrived, this is a great opportunity run by the British Council and the University of Edinburgh. It is a facilitated online learning course which is free and is a GTCS accredited course (General Teaching Council for Scotland).

Learning for Sustainability (LfS) is one of the Standards for Career Long Professional Learning set out in the GTCS standards. The course is also endorsed by The Scottish College for Educational Leadership (SCEL).

The course starts on the 19th January so sign up soon.

If you answer YES to any of the following questions, then you should be seriously considering this course:

  • Are you interested in Learning for Sustainability and implementing it in your school?
  • Do you need practical help and support?
  • Would you benefit from sharing your ideas with other professionals?
  • Are you interested in developing or extending a British Council Professional Partnership with a school overseas?

The Course will help you with think about the following:

  • Critically consider the nature of teaching and learning within the context of Learning for Sustainability, which includes Sustainable Development Education, Outdoor Learning, and Global Learning.
  • In the context of the British Council’s ‘core skills’, reflect critically on developing the skills and dispositions required of teachers and learners related to Learning for Sustainability.
  • Apply in practice, and reflect upon the impact of, principles and practices of and approaches to Learning for Sustainability.
  • Work together towards the development of a Learning for Sustainability professional network for practitioners to support teacher learning and practice in Learning for Sustainability.

This is a fantastic opportunity and we recommend considering taking part.

Year of Young People 2018 – Bliadhna na H-òigridh 2018

The Year of Young People 2018 in Scotland is an opportunity to celebrate the amazing young personalities, talents and achievers which make up Scotland. It’s about inspiring our nation through its young people’s ideas, attitudes and ambitions.

The aim of YOYP 2018 is to inspire Scotland through its young people, celebrating their achievements, valuing their contribution to communities and creating new opportunities for them to shine locally, nationally and globally.

Our team hopes to contribute by:

  •  Giving our Apprentice and young volunteers the opportunity to have an input in what we are doing throughout the year, this includes working with young people who are doing their Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition
  • Give young people the opportunity to achieve through various schemes such as Youth Navigator Star Awards (YNSA), British Canoeing’s Paddlepower schemes and other awards
  • Recognising their efforts through our blog, for instance Lews Castle Grounds Trail Maintenance
  • Asking young people for feedback on our work
  • Giving young people the chance to develop their confidence through developing their outdoor skills
  • Providing courses for volunteers and young people in the Outer Hebrides so they can have the same opportunities which are available to people on the Mainland

For more information about YOYP 2018 visit their site

And for more information about YOYP in The Outer Hebrides

Opportunity to study Learning for Sustainability

In our quest to share the resources we receive, we received an e-mail from Learning for Sustainability Scotland and the fully funded courses in Learning for Sustainability (LfS) they are offering.

The courses are being run by the British Council, University of Edinburgh and Learning for Sustainability Scotland and they are accredited by the General Teaching Council of Scotland (GTCS) and Scottish College for Educational Leadership.

They are offering a great opportunity to consider the difficulties of what Learning for Sustainability means and how do you integrate it into your practice.

Link to Fully Funded courses in Learning for Sustainability

Opportunity to study Learning for Sustainability

To look into the background of this the University web site and the Learning for Sustainability Scotland sites are both excellent resources.

If you are struggling for time, Tim can to come to schools and deliver twilight sessions on LfS as it is part of his Masters Degree.

 

Training and Development

At this time of year we are a little quieter so there is time to pause and take breath. Andrew is going to be working with an S2 elective in the Nicolson Institute and he is planning to do a session on outdoor cooking. When he was working in America they made chocolate oranges on the fire, so to make sure it fitted with our operating procedures he set up the fire pan near the office and set about practicing.

With the fire lit, he mixed the chocolate cake batter. Carefully cut the top of the orange and scooped out the inside of the orange. He spooned the batter into the hollowed out orange until it was just over half full. Put the top back on the orange and wrapped it in tin foil to make a nice parcel. This was then put into the embers of the fire for about fifteen minutes to cook.

With care the parcel it taken out and opened, it is hot! and the delicious chocolate sponge flavoured with orange is devoured.

Next time we think bigger oranges would be good so we get more sponge.

Please come and talk to us about coming and doing some cooking over a fire which can be connected to among others Health and Wellbeing experiences and outcomes.

Resources – John Muir Award

Various resources arrive in our in-tray, here in our hidden office, some of them we think are worth sharing. So occasionally we will put up short posts on things we think are worth a look at.

We received an email from the John Muir Trust about their Literacy and Nature Resource Guide. It is a file with some good links out to other sites and files, what we think useful to teaching staff here in the Outer Hebrides, is the John Muir Award and the CfE document which has details of how the John Muir Award can be linked to the Curriculum for Excellence.

There is their promotional film explaining the Trust and the Award:

If you would like to use the John Muir Award please contact the Isi or Tim and we can help you to set it up and deliver it.

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