January 26, 2013
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Lots of powder snow and beginners falling about a bit. Managed to stay upright and progress from july. Even teachers can learn like pupils, last year teachers learnt to snowboard with the Outdoor Learning class.
January 23, 2013
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Today we were out and about on the snow of Beecraigs. It’s a small country park local to our school. Lots of lying snow about and some recent storm damage tree fall. Some navigation skills were introduced too.
January 22, 2013
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The start of today’s hillwalk, part of a block of 5-7 Walks exploring our Local – up to twenty minutes drive away – Environment. We aimed to circumnavigate Linlithgow Loch.
Measuring the height of the Reed Mace around Linlithgow loch, never pass up an opportunity to promote Numeracy Across Learning.
Exploring a shelter someone has built in the woodland around Linlithgow loch.
Working out how far we have to go to complete a circuit of Linlithgow Loch. We estimated the distance we had come and then worked we were halfway, checked the time and estimated how long we had left to walk.
Patrick exploring the boundaries of Risk, how deep ?
Synchronised swinging, this class are always keen to not bypass a swing/playpark .
Patrick desperate to climb the Palace walls, but not allowed.
Mr T demonstrating how the Buttress works, holding up the Palace walls. Remove the Buttress and the walls would fall down.
Exploring the ancient monument of Linlithgow Palace, checking out the defence works of the outer wall. No crossbows but a wide angle view.
A wee treat after a snowy cold walk. Hot Chocs all round a piece of homebaked cake…..
December 21, 2012
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Go with the flow at Muiravonside
The team
Taking children outside involves making dynamic decisions in terms of safety and learning. Our trip to Muiravonside illustrated this in terms of learning. We had gone to Muiravonside with the intention of doing some winter tree identification and some bush craft skills. A walk through the farm changed this……………..
We recognised that the children were very interested in the animals. As colleagues we have co-taught long enough to be comfortable making quick decisions together in terms of changing the learning experience. This can occur with very few words or even just a look! We suggested that the children ask a farm worker about the animals.
Initially they were shy but with support their confidence increased and they all asked many relevant questions. The answers were informative and we all learned new things as we moved from species to species. Everyone was impressed and grateful that others had time to support our unplanned activity at short notice.
Cute baby chicks
No spotted wild animals were seen – it’s just a hat!
The ability to be flexible and open-minded with learning allows new learning opportunities to be taken when they arise. The planned learning experience turned into one of ‘communicating with others in the community’ as pupil’s generated questions to find out information.
Of course being teenagers we had to go to the play park………………….
Muiravonside is a great and diverse place, providing imaginative learning opportunities. Pretty too………
December 6, 2012
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Today the Outdoor Learning class had a wander around Callander park, avoiding paths and going through the undergrowth. We deliberately went off path to build the class’s observation skills and practice estimating distances. Some of the class had never walked through woods and had a close look at – holes in tress that animals use, animal poo and what type of animal had laid it, dead birds and what killed them, types of bark on trees, fallen trees and a Mausoleum.
We used pacing, averaged out the circumference, then did a calculation to decide how big the Forbes Mausoleum was.
Mrs H explaining how and what this small hole was being used for in a pine tree.
Mrs H showing how to descend a muddy slope, safely.
Brain Fungus – growing on a tree, spotted by Patrick
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Throwing stones on the lake to test if it is really frozen
The Forbes Mausoleum
December 4, 2012
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Ice Climbing trip 2012
Guest post by Laura Bates S3 (edited down by Mr T)
Oh my God it’s the 2nd of December and yesterday I got back from Ice Climbing and it was actually amazing…
We left on the 30th of November at 6pm, well we were meant to but Emily and I went to the toilet and got locked in – not in the toilet but the school – and it was really scary. We had to phone Samantha to tell someone to let us out ! We then learnt that the school is access by pass only after 6pm.
Then we left, we had a great journey because Emily, Sam and I were singing the whole way ! We stopped at the Green Welly stop and it was started snowing ahh !
Then we got to Kinlochleven at about half nine and got shown to our Log Cabins and shove all our stuff into them. We then went into the hotel lounge and dinging area. They had a huge real log fire and it was so warm we could not sit next to it , toasty !
There was a pool table and darts board, so Emily and Mr T played a game of pool. Later, Sam and I had a game too. I was so poor I could not even hit the ball when I played with Josh. Josh had to show me how to play and use the wee stick thing (cue) and Mr T kept saying “it’s all about the angles” LOL. Josh and Dom had ordered Steak Pies and I stole some chips, tasty.
At half ten we were ordered back to cabins. We hardly got any sleep because we were chatting on the phones and the boys said they were watching a DVD on their Laptop.
The four girls had good times chatting and we didn’t get much sleep. We had to get up at seven forty five in the morning and I had to wake all the girls up, but Becca and Emily didn’t want to up, they were sooo tired.
We got dressed and and I went outside saw all the boys taking photos of the snowy mountains and the sunrise, Josh and Dom decided to wash their faces in the loch next to the cabins, which was Baltic but it was a laugh. The loch was so cold it had started to freeze over the night before. I got some great pictures of Mountains (Munros) they were all around us, including the ‘Pap of Glencoe’ which was the setting for Hogwarts. We went for breakfast and I had a full cooked ‘brekkie’, the tattie scones were the best I’ve ever had.
We had to be cleared and have cleaned the cabins by nine fifteen, to be at the Ice Factor by nine thirty. I was the first girl ready so I went and packed my stuff in the School minibus, I got locked out of the cabin by Emily so went talked to the boys and Mr T and Miss L.
Taitanator and I laughed at the amount of junk and clothes all over the place in the boys cabin that they had to pack and tidy. The boys had a mess in their cabin – a packet of Doritos under the bunks – so they had to “clean it up sharpish”, Miss L’s orders !
Aaron Showing his Tools technique, Becca Posing !
It was a short thirty second drive to the Ice Factor indoor Ice and Rock climbing wall. We got in and had a look around, got crampons on – metal spikes that fit around the sole of your boots – and went into the ICE wall, it was actually that cold, minus five degrees. I still had warm layers on and decent gloves. We learned how to use the Ice Axe and how to kick foot placements with crampons first, that was okay but when we had to use the Ice Axes it got really hard and I had to really concentrate and it was so hard. I didn’t get too high up and my hands were killing me holding the Ice Axes (hot aches – Mr T). Josh was good, so was both Aarons. Miss L was also pretty good but Sam and Emily and I were not quite as good and struggled the first few routes. I liked the Ice Axes, they were fun to use and it felt funny walking in the crampons and huge boots, felt like walking in heels !
The ‘Taitanaitor’ showing he has Heels technique….
We went for lunch afterwards, I had a mondo Bacon Butty, it was so good. Then Santa arrived ! I got a bit scared, but he gave me a choccy sweet, so I was happier.
We then went Indoor rock climbing, which was next to the ice room. I did not like the Auto Belay, it automatically takes the rope in, I’m so used to another person on the other end of the rope. I got used to it after a few routes. The climbing was good because it was so different to Ratho Wall (biggest indoor climbing wall in the world) the Ice Factor walls are so much smaller. It was good to have the experience of a different type of wall. At two pm we left and got some amazing views of snowy mountains on the way back, although it was freezin’ when we stopped at the Green Welly. Back to indoor climbing at Ratho with the after school club on Thursdays.
By Laura Bates S3
Guest Post by Aaron Naismith (edited by Mr T)
Ice Climbing 2012
Talk about going an ice climbing trip with school had been going around as an idea for a year or so. Last year, someone was ice climbing and they accidentally put their ice axe through a cooling pipe and this is why It didn’t happen last year and partly because there wasn’t enough time for it.
The Build Up – The build-up of anticipations was high because of the amount of excitement there was about the trip. The first real Indicator that we knew it was going to happen was when we got the permission slips out on the first Wednesday after the October holidays.
The Bus There– We left Grangemouth high school (GHS) at ten past six roughly and the seats were messed up because we had all planned to sit up the back but when we got there that’s where we got told by Mr Tait to put our bags and stuff and some on the front seats too. But we chose our seats for what seemed to be a never ending road. The only indications that we were close were that we stopped at the Green Welly Stop for five minutes to get food, juice, the toilets and so that we could give our legs a stretch. After that it was about forty five minutes driving and then you could start to see mountain tops covered in snow, ice and cloud – like a storm on the north face of the Eiger – but not as brutal. Then 15 more minutes driving and we were there at half past nine…Finally!
When we got there– As soon as we were at the hotel we were staying at Mr Tait sent Ms Lambie into the Hotel to get the keys for our cabins so that we could put our stuff there out of the bus into the cabins where it was safe. While we all went to the Hotel Bothy Bar/Lounge/Dining room so we could play some pool, get some juice, play darts and get food if we wanted to, so we were there for about 40 minutes then we were made to go to our cabins for the night where we were meant to sleep…..
The Next morning – in our cabin we were woke up to a strange noise eventually working out it was Josh’s phone possibly one of the worst wake ups in our life after the alarm had been put off 2 minutes later. Mr Tait had been walking about and noticed a half bottle of red wine out the back of our cabin and he wasn’t happy so we explained we knew nothing about it being there (I knew it was an old bottle as it was all mouldy- Mr T) then got ready to go have breakfast in the hotel. It was a good breakfast and it gave everyone a good perk for the day. After that we went off to pack our stuff in preparation for ice climbing later that day.
Ice Climbing- After having breakfast and packing our stuff, we went to the minibus after cleaning up a whole packet of Doritos that Josh had stood on the night before. Ms Lambie went #APE# and we had to clean them up before we could leave for the ice factor. It was a five minute bus drive to the Ice Factor. When we got there it looked small compared to Ratho (nr Edinburgh Airport) but Ratho is the largest in the world – so fair play to it. When we got into the centre it turns out that they thought we were coming the day before so we had to wait half an hour before we could start to gear up with crampons and harnesses. Then the real excitement started to set in when we got our first step onto snow and ice. We got told how to put our crampons and ice axes into the ice. Then we started to climb on ice and it was so much harder than we thought it was going to be, so this was a big change from rock climbing. We were used to using our feet moving them about for better grip but all we had to do was kick our feet in to the wall and try not to move them about otherwise we would fall and if our axe was still in the ice and it was a good enough placement it would stay in and start to cut off your circulation to your hand and make it hard to get back on to the ice. There was a moment that I could not fall off otherwise Miss Lambie would have been seriously hurt by the crampons on my feet, Miss Lambie knows how to belay safely from being a rock climber, so no worries. Miss Lambie had climbed up behind me and now it was serious (He had to beat her- Mr T). So I climb to the top of the route without falling off – so Miss Lambie was safe to climb herself.
Aaron Scott attempted the log and ice wall and got about half way through it, then gave up. Mr Tait kept saying how much of a good ice climber he was, but to be honest he was much better than all of us.
Rock Climbing – after ice climbing we had a quick lunch then off to do some rock which was ok but not the best that we had ever done, it was good so it was ok to still climb there. There was three auto-belays there at first I didn’t like them but overall as time went on I began to like them a lot more so I could climb as much as I wanted without someone having to belay me, so It made it easier. I didn’t have 100% trust in the auto-belays so I was still a bit sceptical about them. So after a few hours of climbing we left to go back to Grangemouth after a Great weekend away with Josh, Dom, Aaron and Aaron, Laura Samantha, Becca and Emily.
December 2, 2012
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Whilst writing up a walk Risk Assessment for the Outdoor Class, I came across a Stoat trying to kill a Rabbit, four times it’s size. Hard to see in the photo, from my phone, in the middle you can make out the black ‘paint dipped’ tail of the stoat on top of the rabbit, the rabbit ran off and escaped.
There is a lot to see on this walk and it has good vistas out onto the River Forth Estuary and beyond.
Lots of Hoar Frost about along the beach edge. Although still enough kindling for my kelly kettle. These are ideal to make a warming hot drink using materials such as twigs, leaves or dried seaweed.
The temperature was well below freezing as my water bottle had frozen after twenty minutes walking, the sun was out though and walking abck along the skyline on the way back proved to be a little bit warmer. I was trying to ID every tree, to no avail, to practice for a block of walking/bushcraft/John Muir sessions over the next five weeks with the Outdoor Class.
This carcass was just off the main path, no circle of feathers – tell tale sign of a sparrowhawk – so maybe a fox had snatched off the body and taken back to it’s den ?
September 27, 2012
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We have moved on to a block of Climbing Sessions with the Outdoor learning class today. The weather is getting cooler, even indoors at www.eica-ratho.com where we climbed, it’s the biggest indoor climbing wall in the world. After kit issue and setting up the equipment, which was complicated for some, we started off using the smaller wall for familiarisation with the Belay technique ‘Bell Ringing’ which allows one climber to climb and two people to connect on and support the weight of the climber safely. This is the best way to introduce Belaying to newcomers in a safe way. It also forces learners to communicate and talk to each other for safety. learners choose their own routes – personalisation and choice – with lots of difficult concepts and fears to conquer but in a few minutes success if they persisted -challenge and enjoyment –
G showing delicate and accurate footwork, good technique to look down for toe placements. VG for a first time at climbing.
This photo shows the array of holds, bolted on to create different routes. Each colour is a different route, all graded with different difficulties.
This photo shows the scale of the climbing. Steph climbing at 4 storeys high, higher than the school !
Working together
September 24, 2012
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We have been canoeing and kayaking since June, until this week. Lots of skills developed inc. kitting up, gear, launching, controlling speed, controlling direction and journey skills. Just when two paddlers get comfortable with each other, the boat partners are shuffled so they have to re-start trusting each other and learn to communicate correctly. Learners were coached with differing styles – Guided Discovery, Direct Command, Reciprocal. Using different styles of coaching allows different learners to access learning whatever needs they may have eg struggle to communicate, struggle to work with others.
Mr T showing the correct technique for carrying a canoe by yourself, over your neck, using the centre yoke. Normally four pupils carry each boat, to prevent injury.
We have paddled in all weathers from burning hot sun to strong winds and torrential rain. We have the use of the kit and the canal so we have been lucky to get out every day we planned. Unfortunately we have not managed to get away to another venue – loch, reservoir – for capsize drills and swims !
The class chose kayaks or canoes after trying both disciplines out. Next spring we will do an Overnight Expedition to test journey skills out.
Although Dale and Grace both capsized kayaks a few weeks back, they were keen to kayak the next week !
Getting all the kit launched.
Steph modelling the latest canoe fashions ! – essential kit, waterproofs and paddle with PFD. (personal flotation device). learners cannot be on the pontoon near the water or in a canoe without a PFD on. This is a very basic but essential piece of safety equipment.
There are many heritage aspects to a journey along the canal, including many bridges. This one at Polmont railway station, was built in 1859.
Dragonfly spotting, this day we observed around 8 dragonflies landing on vegetation. None of the class had seen them before.
Hold on to the raft ! Steph doing a good job holding the kayaks together.
The team listening to coaching input from Mrs H.
June 28, 2012
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So we have all had a great session this year – old members enjoying climbing for another year, new members starting their climbing and canoeing careers – and it will pause for 7 weeks while we enjoy our holidays.
Thanks to those learners and staff who have made the ‘Outdoor Learning’ year for me. Great to share it with you. Just one day to go, I’ll be cleaning and checking canoe kit tomorrow morning so come and give me hand if you wish !
Also, thanks to Mr Petrie for encouraging Aaron, Josh and Dominik to get into reading Climbing books – novels, biography and stories of adventure – in 5-10 years you can live the experience yourselves ! And write about it for others.
Enjoy the hols, do something AwEsOmE in the hols…..
