Outdoor Learning at Grangemouth High

October 10, 2013
by User deactivated
0 comments

Last canoeing after school till Spring 2014

Tonight we had the last after school canoe session till spring 2014. S1-5 were out tonight. Some – Duke of Edinburgh Award Silver – were mentoring the S1/2, others were attending to complete their Bronze DofE Physical sections. The rest of the group were just out paddling.

October 3, 2013
by User deactivated
0 comments

Coaching Climbers to Coach

#coaching beginners ‘hand shapes on holdz’ at #eicaratho #ratho. #coach is a 14yr old, she has #patience #talent and an understanding of #fundamentals of climbing, especially pelvis position and centre of gravity. Skills built over three years #climbing and #bouldering. #Bouldering games using #munchkins for precise footwork. ‘Shapes of hands’ to show different ways to hold holds.

Coaching precise footwork

Young Coach

September 17, 2013
by User deactivated
0 comments

Chilly canal cultural cruise

Chilly but a blue sky greeted us at the canal launch point. Fast unpacking of the kayaks got us on the union canal, apart from a delay. The kayak I used just fitted me and I got the spraydeck on with some voluntary help. Tonight was a really well run session, not much coaching required. Some paddlers are doing their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award, one section is Physical. Another is Volunteering with the school club for her Duke of Edinburgh Silver. The group were keen to learn about the depth of canal and why it doesn’t drain out or empty.

Teamwork -getting the spraydecks on

How deep is the canal ?

September 5, 2013
by User deactivated
0 comments

Successful Speeding

IMAG3920-1.jpg

The after school climbers were at Ratho EICA tonight. Laura cruised the Speed route after warming up on 5 easier routes and mixing – face, corner, bridging and overhanging – routes, this is the ‘coached’ method. Climbers last longer and can achieve harder routes this way. Often, climbers jump to harder routes too early. We avoid ‘dynamic stretching’ and prefer to warm up the whole body first. The clibers are encouraged to so some simple floor excercises at home for ‘strength and conditioning’ eg Planks, side planks. Avoiding sit-ups as recent research says this can be risky for females. Planks work the whole core and replicate the ‘body tension’ we need for climbing. Samantha has been doing Strength and Conditioning floor excercises, Planks, press-ups etc, which has built her Core Strength up over the 7 week summer hols. Her weekly kayaking – with the school- has also contributed.

August 27, 2013
by User deactivated
0 comments

Warm water for capsizing kayaks at Loch Ard

The after school canoe/kayak club was up at Loch Ard, near Aberfoyle. Ten minutes drive passed Callander. Amazingly warm water. Quite windy so Emmily – a newcomer to kayaking – struggled in the waves until she got the techniques sorted and cruised on the way back. Kayakers cheered when Kim did her usual Eskimo Roll.

We had our own school kayaks plus some borrowed ones, one had a missing airbag so time to prove how buoyant kayaks are.

How many ‘kids on a kayak’ ?? Nope, they could not sink it.

We will run out of daylight in a few weeks, so we need to get out as much as possible.

After School Kayak Club @ Loch Ard

June 18, 2013
by User deactivated
0 comments

Falkirk Canal Tunnel Canoeing

Tonight, on a lovely balmy warm evening, we paddled out a few hundred metres and entered the canal tunnel. Lots of screaming later, we cruised through. We admired the amazing stalactites and stalacmites, bats, flies, rock architecture and Victorian engineering. We appeared back out in the warm air. A wee break then back through.

Falkirk Canal Tunnel

The Tunnel never gets dark as there are plentiful uplighters.

Falkirk Canal Tunnel

Falkirk Canal Tunnel

A wee break, before returning.

Falkirk Canal Tunnel

Returning back to the Minibus.

Falkirk Canal Tunnel

June 15, 2013
by User deactivated
0 comments

Loch Tay Beach Canoe Camp

Friday night we left Killin and headed down the Lochay, a Hydro river but flows into Loch Tay. Only 14mins to paddle down to the Wild camping spot, although there were very heavy showers on the drive up, we were dry all night till 10.20pm.

Reflections on the evening paddle out.

Ducks, Geese and some Oyster Catchers had just flown overhead. Some of the team had never been this immersed in raw nature before.

Reflections on the evening paddle out.

The team tried to spot a dead lamb that was floating past, YUCK !

Reflections on the evening paddle out.

This section of the Lochay is a lovely scenic stretch, mature trees and sandy banks. Ocassionally Sand Martins fly out.

River Lochay

Team photo antics…………

Team Photo

Team Photo

We did not need the big group shelter – the big orange bag – but if the forecasted heavy rains came, we were ready. We had to use canoes to guy out the tents, knowhere for pegs, just sand. We had a dozen poly bags to fill with sand as dead weight pegs, but the canoes were better.

Canoes used to guy out tents, pegs don't work in sand.

Breakfast a social experience.

Team breakfast meal and marshmallows.

Team Breakfast !

This return section is aesthetic with the mountains as a backdrop.

Team Effort

Caitlin learnt to ‘cast a rod’ for the first time.

Nearly ready to leave, an hour ahead of schedule.

June 14, 2013
by User deactivated
0 comments

‘Going Out There: Scottish Framework for Safe Practice in Off-site Visits’

We were lucky enough to have a cool event at school on Wednesday, info copied below-

Dr Alasdair Allan launches ‘Going Out There: Scottish Framework for Safe Practice in Off-site Visits’
Wednesday 12th June 2013, Grangemouth High School, Falkirk

Read more about the launch event on the Engage for Education blog:

and find out more about the document on our outdoor learning page:

This framework has been developed in partnership by Education Scotland, the Scottish Government, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Scottish Advisory Panel for Outdoor Education (SAPOE) and the Association of Directors of Education, with input from other partners including voluntary organisations and providers. It promotes a sensible and manageable approach to organising and leading educational visits locally, further afield, residentially and internationally. It emphasises an enabling attitude which reduces bureaucracy while ensuring guidance and support is in place for trips to be managed safely. It is expected that ‘Going Out There’ can be adopted as a common framework across Scotland by all those managing or organising visits or providing activities and venues: http://www.goingoutthere.co.uk.

Nigel Marshal, chair of SAPOE commended the enabling approach promoted throughout the guidance: “SAPOE has been involved in supporting Scottish Government and Education Scotland in the provision of Guidance documents for many years. The new Going Out There guidance is one we are particularly proud to be associated with as it is will enable and encourage those working with young people out of doors to access relevant and coherent guidance online in an easy and uncomplicated way”

Commenting on the new Scottish framework, Bruce Robertson, who chaired the Managing Outdoor Learning Safely Group for the Scottish Government said, “The aim of this guidance is to streamline the over bureaucratic health and safety approaches which can sometimes get in the way of outdoor learning in its various facets across Scotland. As chairman of the group which developed the guidance, I would commend it to all users and thank everyone who made this possible.”

Education Scotland is stepping up its commitment to Outdoor Learning through the Development Officer for Outdoor Learning/National Parks seconded to June 2015 working with 12 Senior Education Officers with curriculum and sector area responsibilities who have OL/NPs as part of their core remit. The promotion and raising awareness of this document as well as the strategic direction from Education Scotland and other strategic partners will make the job of managing outdoor learning safely more straightforward for practitioners.
Education Scotland will continue to work closely with the National Network for Outdoor Learning and SAPOE to implement Going Out There. There is an opportunity to strengthen links at local authority level with the work of our area lead officers embedding outdoor learning in practice in existing local authority and cluster Curriculum for Excellence through Outdoor Learning Strategic Plans, and with SAPOE which has a representative in each LA. This document is a valuable resource for our work in teacher education and professional learning as, through Learning for Sustainability, outdoor learning is embedded in all three GTCS refreshed standards.

June 6, 2013
by User deactivated
0 comments

Complicated Climbing……..

Another warm evening for Outdoor Learning, tonight we were at Bennybeg, a small cliff at Muthil near crieff.

Josh was learning some ropework- how to setup safety systems when running an abseil session.

Checking the length of an abseil rope, to coach beginners abseiling.

Setting up a group abseil.

Setting up a safety system.

Quite complicated ropework – lots of Assessment candidates fail this part of the course when doing the Instructor course – but always clipped in for safety when working at height.

Setting up a safety system.

Good teamwork with Laura and Josh.

'J' Resting

Group Climbing

Group Climbing

Report a Glow concern
Cookie policy  Privacy policy

Glow Blogs uses cookies to enhance your experience on our service. By using this service or closing this message you consent to our use of those cookies. Please read our Cookie Policy.