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 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.
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:
On the 20th February, before the evenings got too long, Mrs Mackinnon and her P1-4 class from Sir E Scott Primary came out for a night walk with Isi. They had been reading The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark as the basis for their project for the term, and wanted to experience the darkness for themselves – away from lights and buildings. We walked from the playground area in the Aline woodlands, down to the shores of Loch Seaforth and back again – a long way for little legs!
It was a very cold but calm evening, and the sun had just set as we left the carpark. We found lots of interesting things to talk about on the way, and the children especially liked seeing the snow on the Cliseam and other hills being lit up by the sunset. We spent a few minutes being very quiet to see what we could hear. We didn’t find any owls, but they were all surprised at just how quiet it was. When we got to the picnic bench by the loch, Isi gave everyone hot chocolate or juice, and a biscuit to keep them going for the return leg.
We looked out across the loch, which was very calm and looked like glass. On the way back, we turned off our torches and spent some time looking at the stars. We managed to find the Plough, Cassiopeia, Orion’s Belt, and some pictures the children made up themselves. Isi also had to remember some of her physics from school on the rest of the walk as the children had lots of questions about everything from the moon to black holes!
There were lots of smiling faces when we got back, although I suspect that they all slept well that night.
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
On the 15th to 17th January Andrew (the Modern Apprentice) was away on a subsidised Winter Skills course in the Cairngorms. The Course was run by Plas y Brenin on behalf of the Jonathan Conville Memorial Trust. The course offered him a great opportunity to develop his skills, to broaden his experience and to see another skilled practitioner working as an instructor.
The Jonathan Conville Memorial Trust was formed by the family of young British climber Jonathan Conville after his death on The Matterhorn. The aim of the Trust is to provide quality mountain training for young people aged 18 to 30, so they have the skills and knowledge to be safe when out on the mountains.
The course covered winter mountaineering skills such as avalanche awareness, ice axe arrests, using crampons, basic rope work and walking on the ice and snow.
The instructor was Richard Bentley. Richard is an experienced Mountaineering Instructor (MIC) in the Lochaber area providing training and assessment to eager mountaineers, he also comes out to the Islands and runs training courses for us.
On the first day he started the course with acclimatising to the new equipment and the conditions. The skills covered were how to use your boots as a tool and more than just footwear; kicking steps and making ledges. Progressing on to the basics of using an ice axe when walking; using it as a third point of contact to be more stable.
As the day went on there was discussions about how to pick a route across the snow, being aware of the dangers, behaviour of the snow and how to make a safe and sound decision whether that was the way you wanted to go or not.
After Lunch there was some small ice climbing and practising the skills learned earlier in the day on the ice down in Coire t-Sneachda
On the second day due to the conditions, it was too icy and the snow gate was closed, making it impossible to get up to the ski range at Cairngorm, so the day began in the lower car park.
The day started practising the skills already learnt and the group demonstrating this by leading legs for themselves. Leading to ice axe arrests, basic rope skills; building anchors for belaying, abseiling and looking at how to build a shelter in the snow.
When Andrew got back and was think about what he learned from the experience there were three main things: The importance of avalanche awareness (Scottish Avalanche Information Service, SAIS), how crucial good decision making is and not to step in a burn at the start of the day.
The outcome of the third was not only did he have a wet foot but also he was affectionately known as “Burnie” for the rest of the day.
Just before Christmas we were lucky to have a member of the National Navigation Awards team come to Harris to deliver a train the trainer course for us, Dorothy Breckenridge from C-n-Do Scotland was visiting Harris and offered to provide the course. Adam Johnson from Sir E Scott School in Tarbert joined us.
The National Navigation Award Scheme is a great way to introduce people to the skills of navigation in a non threatening way. It takes a stepped approached to navigation pioneered by Nigel Williams of Glenmore Lodge. By breaking the training down into easy manageable stages which can be easily related to the real world is a key component.
It is not a leading award but a recognition of your ability to navigate and there are three different levels bronze, silver and gold.
If you would like us to come and do some training with you so you can deliver the award in a school or group we would be very happy to do this just contact Isi or Tim.
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.
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.
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