Tag Archives: Outdoor Learning

CfE, Religious Education in Roman Catholic schools, Social studies

School Open Day – St Paul’s High School, Glasgow

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9:30am – 3.00pm, Thurs 10th May 2012

Theme:  Sustainable Development Education and Education for Citizenship 

St Paul’s High School is an inspiring example of a school that has adopted a whole school approach to global citizenship. The school’s achievements in this regard have earned it national recognition as a finalist in the 2011 Scottish Education Awards (Sustainable School Category) and as a winner of the 2009 Scottish Education Awards (Active Citizenship Category).

The school’s approach and vision for global citizenship has made an identifiable impact on learners, helping them grow in confidence and providing them with real-life opportunities to develop their skills and transform their local community. The school has supported a wide range of activities to achieve this, most notably:

  • Dedicated time within the social studies curriculum for learners to choose and engage with local community projects and tackle anti-social behaviour in the wider community
  • A strong school ethos which puts respect for others and service to others at the heart of school life and the curriculum
  • A sustained commitment to learner voice and a well-established school parliament that provides learners with decision-making powers and a budget to make things happen
  • A diverse range of activities and initiatives which support a whole school approach including a Fairtrade group, Eco-Schools group and pupil campaign group
  • Planned opportunities for personal achievement through S1 electives, S2 citizenship and S3 skills academy.

This CPD event offers practitioners and school leaders from across Scotland the chance to visit St Paul’s High School to meet with the Head Teacher, staff and learners and also tour the classrooms, buildings and grounds.

Those participating in the open day will also have time to reflect and share their own experiences.

Download Programme for St Paul’s Open Day >>

How to book

To book, please email: globalcitizens@educationscotland.gov.uk or Tel. 0141 282 5172.

Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. This is a free event!

CfE, Health and wellbeing, Literacy, Responsibility of All

Archaeology – An Introduction

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Do you have an interest in archaeology and want to learn more? Why not join us for a Glow TV session on Thursday 22nd March at 4pm which introduces participants to archaeology and takes a step by step exploration of the work of an archaeologist.

The session will demonstrate how archaeology can support teaching of the curriculum, especially with regard to multi-disciplinary study and cross-curricular themes, such as numeracy, literacy, Health and Wellbeing and Outdoor Learning. It will finish with practical examples of archaeological activities which can be used in the classroom and resources which are available, including ways in which Archaeology Scotland can provide support.

On completion of the course, participants will:

• Be aware of the resources and support available to them by Archaeology Scotland
• Have gained information and ideas on how to use archaeology across the curriculum
• Have gained information and ideas on how to use archaeology to support outdoor learning in and around school
• Have gained practical examples of archaeological activities which can be used in the classroom.

So why not sign up and join us on the day in Glow TV – Archaeology – An Introduction

CfE, Health and wellbeing

Working in our National Parks – A Series of Events

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Join us for the first two Glow TV events in a series looking at outdoor learning and skills for work.

Our first session comes live from Hermitage Academy on Thursday 22nd March from 11-12pm where pupils will be meeting two employees of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park to give you an insight into the pathways to and the roles of a planner (particularly around the built environment) and a ranger (with roles in education and conservation). You will learn what qualifications, skills and areas of expertise are required and developed in both roles and have opportunities for questioning our experts.

In our second session on Tuesday 27th March from 2pm join our panel of experts, including some pupils involved, to learn about rural skills. A similar session to the one on Thursday 22nd March is featured, along with footage of a rural skills course in action with interviews from pupils, teacher and National Park ranger delivering the course.

Hear about the skills for work opportunities and how a course such as this helps the development of a suite of ‘soft’ skills which are transferable and support transition into work. There will be opportunities to interact and have your questions answered during both sessions.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV for Working in our National Parks – live from Hermitage Academy on Thursday 22nd and Working in our National Parks – Rural Skills on Tuesday 27th March. We look forward to seeing you!

Gaelic Learners, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Responsibility of All

Health and wellbeing Glow Meet Wednesday 22 February 1615-1700

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This Glow meet will provide CPD support to deliver the aspects of HWB that are the Responsibility of All. 

You will have the opportunity to hear about the building blocks of HWB to develop a whole school approach and a shared understanding of Responsibility of all.  This shared understanding can help teachers and partners to consider assessment in HWB, in particular on those aspects that are the Responsibility of all.

There will be the opportunity to post questions throughout the meet.

To join your colleagues, please click here. (Glow log in required).

Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Responsibility of All

Health and Wellbeing Showcase, Thursday 9th February, Aberdeen

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The Health and wellbeing team welcomed over sixty practitioners to our Showcase event. 

We had a packed day celebrating good practice across the health and wellbeing organisers. There was a marketplace where many of our partners were available to discuss how they can support schools, these included Active Schools, British Heart Foundation, The Red Cross, Organ Donation, Sustrans, Health Working Lives and Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.  

Alison Hammerton from Outdoor Learning enthused with ideas that stimulated how schools can deliver health and wellbeing by taking the curriculum outside. Click here to go the Outdoor Learning Blog for updates.

We finished the day with a keynote speech from Craig Brown, former Head Teacher and current Manager of Aberdeen Football Club.  He shared some tales of football fun whilst integrating the key messages of health and wellbeing and gave us all a laugh too.

We hope our delegates gain a lot from the day and would encourage them to sign up to our HWB Community where we will share the presentations from the day and partner contact information. Click here to sign up to the community.

Also don’t forget to join Education Scotland on Facebook and Twitter.

Social studies, Technologies

Schools TV from Dumfries & Galloway

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Schools across Dumfries & Galloway are giving every other school in Scotland the opportunity to join them as they broadcast lots of fantastic outdoor activities through GlowTV.

So what’s planned:

Monday 20th of February @ 9:30 – 10:15
Photography can be done by anyone, anywhere. What’s around your school? In this session, live from their local environment, the pupils from the Gatehouse Primary School camera club & the Forestry Commision will show you how.

Tuesday 21st of February @ 9:30 – 10:15
What’s around your school? What’s the space used for? Join St Mungo Primary in their outdoor classroom. Find out how they use their space and what activities they enjoy. You will have the opportunity to post your comments and questions.

Thursday 23rd of February @ 09:30-10:15
Join the pupils of Shawhead Primary learning how to encourage birds to come to their school grounds. Find out some amazing facts about the birdlife in their environment and learn how to build your very own nestbox.

Friday 24th of February @ 09:30-10:15
Do you enjoy playing board games? If so, why not join Tom, Liz and the pupils from Loreburn and Applegarth as they find out which environmental or wildlife themed board game will earn their school the title of ‘The Dr Finlayson Challenge Winners 2012′.

Monday 27th of February @ 9:30 – 10:15
Podcasting can be done by anyone, anywhere. If you have listened to the radio and wished you could have a go, you can! Ae Primary are going to demonstrate how they would report on the environment around their school. What’s around your school? What’s the space used for? When you’ve seen a live demonstration from a BBC Producer, you will have the opportunity to create and share your own podcast.

Tuesday 28th of February @ 9:30 – 10:15
The epic journey of the goose. The answers are –

1.Svalbard
2.48hours
3.Stormy weather

But what are the questions?

Join Wigtown Primary, Caerlaverock Primary and Longyearbyen Skole in Norway in partnership with Brian Morrell WWT Caerlaverock and Elizabeth Tindall D&G Ranger Service.

Wednesday 29th @ 9:30 – 10:15
Review & Share Time. If you have taken part in previous programmes of this series come and join in with the review and sharing.

So sign up to join in and find out more here

CfE, Responsibility of All, Sciences, Social studies, Technologies

Environment Online – a global schools network for sustainability

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Environment Online – ENO is a global virtual school network for sustainable development.

Learning is student and problem-centred with both online and offline activities. At the end of each theme there is a campaign week during which the results of learning are raised in local communities and on the web. Students eventually become ambassadors for the environment of their respective local communities and regions. Regular themes and have been forests, climate change, ecological footprint and different cultural themes.

The success of the ENO Programme  lies in the fact that it is run by teachers.  Over 7000 from 105 countries are part of the ENO network. The ages of learners involved range from 12 – 18 years.

Objectives 

  • to deepen environmental themes at schools
  • to add global awareness and internationality
  • to educate for active citizenship
  • to get schools from developing countries as active participants
  • to learn basic skills in ICT
  • to make a change together

 Visit http://www.enoprogramme.org/ to find out more.

CfE, Sciences

Outdoor Learning Cookalong with SSERC

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On Thursday 8th March, SSERC will be hosting another Cookalong in their tremendously successful series of innovative and accessible CPD. This is a second opportunity to join in the Outdoor Learning Cookalong. Andy Boswell, one of the SSERC Development Officers, will be looking at practical ways of exploring the environment, including observation and sampling. There will be links to CfE Science experiences and outcomes as well as lots of ideas for cross-curricular links. SSERC is pleased to be able to offer a limited number of free resource boxes to support the Cookalong and the implementation of the practical activities covered.

If you would like to participate in this CPD event, please contact hayley.sherrard@sserc.org.uk for an application form (deadline for submission is 29th February 2012). By confirming your participation, you will be entered in the ballot for a free box of resources which are specifically tailored to support the CPD activities on the day. Even if you are unsuccessful in getting a free box, you can still take part, whether you choose to source your own resources or not. Many resources are inexpensive and easy to source so we do not anticipate that this will be a problem. For those who wish to source their own kit you can find the recommended kit list on the SSERC Cookalong Glow group pages in due course.

You can make the most of this CPD by encouraging colleagues to help ‘cook along’ on this Outdoor Learning CPD session. Previous participants have arranged cluster schools to come together as well as colleagues from secondaries to assist with Primary-Secondary transition.

This course has no fee, all that is asked in return is that you and each of your colleagues fill in a short SSERC evaluation form in order that they can  further refine and improve this exciting way of delivering CPD for the future. Please note that by submitting your application to receive a box you are committed to attending the Cookalong on the 8th March.

And don’t forget…even if you happen to miss a Cookalong, Glow allows for meetings to be recorded and watched back at a time to suit you! You can see the Cookalong again from the “Recorded Meetings” link on the SSERC Cookalong Lab (Adobe Connect) area of the Noticeboard within the Glow Group.

To register with the SSERC Cookalong Glow Group please send your Glow username and school/centre to ian.birrell@sserc.org.uk.
CfE, Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing, Languages, Mathematics, Responsibility of All, RME, Sciences, Social studies, Technologies

Whitelees Primary School – Open Day

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School open day

Whitelees Primary School, North Lanarkshire Council

9:30am – 3.00pm, Monday 20th February 2012

Theme:  Sustainable Development Education

This event was originally due to take place on 8th December 2011 but had to be cancelled due to the severe storms. It has now been rescheduled for Monday 20th February 2012.

Whitelees Primary School hit the headlines in 2011 when it became the first primary school to be awarded five ‘excellent’ grades by the school inspectors.  This isn’t the first time their achievements have made news. The school’s accolades and awards include:

  • Finalist, Scottish Education Awards – Sustainable School category (2011)
  • Best Green School Award (2009)
  • Winner,  Scottish Education Awards – Best Enterprise category (2008)
  • Four Green Flags, Eco-Schools Scotland.

A key factor in the school’s success has been the way it has placed global citizenship and sustainable development education at the heart of the curriculum to provide exciting, relevant and engaging contexts for learning. This has helped to create, ‘Highly motivated, confident and ambitious children who are keen to learn and to make a difference in school and the wider community.’

This CPD event offers practitioners and school leaders from across Scotland the chance to visit Whitelees Primary School to meet with the Head Teacher, staff and learners and also tour the classrooms, buildings and grounds. A focus of the event will be to identify and share the practical lessons and ideas that have helped the school develop a successful whole school approach to sustainability and global citizenship including: 

  • A sustained commitment to pupil voice with learners being given real opportunities to shape the curriculum and school decision making
  • Effective use of the school grounds, nature and vegetable gardens to support outdoor learning and deliver the curriculum
  • The inspiring pupil rock band which has achieved notable success through their songs about fair trade and climate change.

Those participating in the open day will also have time to reflect and share their own experiences. 

Click here to download programme for open day

How to book

To book, please email: globalcitizens@educationscotland.gov.uk or Tel. 0141 282 5172.

Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. This is a free event!

Assessment, Moderation, Modern Languages, NAR, National Qualifications, Sciences, Social studies, Technologies

CfE & Glow News e-update – January

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The CfE and Glow News e-update provides you with updates on Curriculum for Excellence and support for practitioners, along with all the latest developments within Glow.

Click here to view the newsletter or click on the links below.

Read the January issue to find out about the following:

Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing

Scottish Athletics

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Scottish athletics have recently launched a new national schools athletics programme booklet to provide  guidance and support for schools in Scotland offering athletics opportunities.

National Schools Athletics programme

Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing

Living Streets Competition

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Walk Once a Week – WOW – Badge Design Competition

2012’s WoW badge design competition is here, and we’re delighted to confirm that the theme is ‘AROUND THE WORLD‘. We are inviting schools to get their pupils’ creativity flowing and design what could be one of the official WoW badges for 2012/13.

Each winner will have his or her design transformed into the monthly WoW badges worn by hundreds of thousands of children across the country, and will be invited to an awards ceremony and fun day out in London in May 2012.

Our annual WoW badge design competition is one of the UK’s biggest art competitions, with over 150,000 primary school children taking part to design badges for a specific theme. Each participant school is invited to submit three entries for consideration. In 2011 our judging panel viewed over 1,800 fantastic entries on a Sport theme; our biggest competition yet! The deadline for receiving entries will be 16 March. 

www.livingstreets.org.uk

Early Years, Sciences

Big Schools’ Birdwatch

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Join the RSPB from 16-30th January 2012 and you’ll not only be taking part in the world’s biggest birdwatch, but also helping us monitor UK bird numbers.

Run every year, the Birdwatch is a free activity for all UK schools and youth groups. Little Schools’ Birdwatch is for 3-5 year olds, Big Schools’ Birdwatch is for 6-11 year olds and Really Big Schools’ Birdwatch is for 12-14 year olds.

To find out more about this competition click here.

Health and wellbeing, Responsibility of All

NQT Health and wellbeing Event, Hampden, Sat 3rd December

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The Health and Wellbeing Team are looking forward to spending a day with 150 NQT’s.  We have presentations from two Head Teachers about how they lead health and wellbeing in their schools and much more.

We will be launching our hwb-cpd community and are encouraging all participants to sign up throughout the day.

Anyone can sign up for a priority place for more Health and wellbeing events happening in early 2012.

To add to the share area click here

To set an intention click here

CfE, Early Years, Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing, Languages, Mathematics, Responsibility of All, RME, Sciences, Senior Phase, Social studies, Young people, children & families

Creativity in the Classroom – a call out to share what works

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Consider yourself creative?

The Creativity Portal is looking for examples of simple, short creative exercises that teachers and youth workers like yourself have used in the classroom and youth group settings.

It could be:

  • A creative chemistry experiment
  • The school’s fastest paper aeroplane contest
  • The imaginative alphabet
  • A 30 second dramatic warm-up

We would love to hear what’s worked for you. Get a mention on the national Creativity Portal and an invitation to future creative CPD. A wee bit of text is all it takes.

Add to the Creativity Archive here within Glow.

Or email Stephen.bullock@educationscotland.gov.uk

Early Years, Languages, Literacy, Literacy and English

The latest Early Years Glow meet

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Our Glow meet, “Towards the Vision: Developing Literacy in the Early Years” was a great success.

Join in the interesting discussions here.

Grant Gillies, Literacy Development Officer at Education Scotland spoke about Bloom’s Higher Order Thinking fans. Find out about the Kilmalcolm case study here:

http://caledonianblogs.net/nilfs/2010/02/25/questioning-kilmacolms-innovative-blooming-blooms-approach/

Find Bloom’s Higher Order Thinking fans here:

https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/Literacy%20and%20English/AAA%20Hidden%20Pages/CL%20-%20Resources.aspx

Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing, Languages, Mathematics, Responsibility of All, RME, Sciences, Senior Phase, Social studies, Technologies

Global citizenship and sustainability – visit award-winning schools

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Following the tremendous success of earlier open day events, the Developing Global Citizens Team at Education Scotland are providing opportunities for school leaders and practitioners to visit three more schools to see first-hand how they have developed inspiring whole school approaches to global citizenship and sustainable development education. These include:

 Hamilton Grammar School, South Lanarkshire

Theme:  An integrated approach to global citizenship

  • Four Eco-Schools green flag awards; pupil voice; making the most of international links; promoting active and outdoor learning.

 Garrowhill Primary School, Glasgow

Theme: Sustainable development education

  • Winner, Scottish Education Awards (2011) – Sustainable School Category; pupil voice; outdoor learning and school grounds; embedding sustainability within the curriculum; Eco-Schools green flag.

 Whitelees Primary School, North Lanarkshire

Theme: Sustainable development education

  • Recently achieved five ‘excellent’ grades in their school inspection; Finalist, Scottish Education Awards (2011) – Sustainable School Category; Winner, Best Green School (2009); Four Eco-Schools green flag awards.

 How to book

To book, please email: globalcitizens@educationscotland.gov.uk or Tel. 0141 282 5172. Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. These are free CPD events.

 View the full programme of school open day events at http://ltsblogs.org.uk/globalcitizenship/2011/09/28/new-open-day-programme-201112/

 What others have said about the study visits:

‘The best CPD I have ever had.’

‘This was an inspirational CPD event and I found it all very useful and enjoyable – fantastic.’

‘My mind is going into overdrive – I plan to take everything you have given and use it!’

Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing

Forest Pitch – Meet the artist in a Glowing Thursday!

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Glowing Thursday 10th November 2011

Forest Pitch – football strip design competition!

Meet the artist!

Join us on 10th November at 11am on Glow TV!

An opportunity to meet Scottish artist Craig Coulthard, creator of the highly innovative art project Forest Pitch. Funded by Creative Scotland and part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Forest Pitch will culminate in two football matches between amateur players who have recently taken up British citizenship.  At the Scottish Learning Festival in September this year Craig launched a football strip design competition for primary age children to come up with exciting and innovative designs for the football strips that the players will wear.

As an arts project, Forest Pitch encourages debate about national identity, citizenship, the natural world, sustainability and participation in sport.

If you have already signed up for the competition or are thinking about doing so, then join us for this exciting Glowing Thursday to find out more and get some artist’s tips and advice.

Find out more about the competition, sign up and download the design brief and support materials here

And don’t forget – taking part in this competition is a great way of demonstrating a commitment to the Olympic and Paralympic values and joining the London 2012 Get Set Network.  Do this before 16th December and qualify for FREE tickets for the Olympics! Find out more >>

Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Languages, Sciences, Technologies

Travelling Green

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Travelling Green is a 6 week walking project which aims to encourage as many children as possible to change their method of travel to and from school, by increasing active commuting (walking) to school.

Travelling Green is an interdisciplinary project focusing on Health and Wellbeing with links to Science, Social Studies, Expressive Arts, Technologies and Languages.

Children learn about walking time and distance, they chart their progress to a more active journey to school and learn about healthy eating, why walking is good for them and how to stay safe on the walk to school.

Who is it aimed at?

Travelling Green is aimed at P5s (9 year olds) in primary schools in Scotland, but it can also be used in composite classes.

What can it achieve?

Increases in overall physical activity. Setting realistic, individual, achievable physical activity targets.

What’s new with Travelling Green?

Sustrans has developed new, free, eye-catching interactive whiteboard flipcharts that can be used with any interactive whiteboard. The flipcharts complement the paper resource pack and provide more opportunities for engagement in the classroom. You can download the interactive resources for free from the Promethean Planet partnership pages.

More info is available on the Sustrans website.

Adult Learning, CLD, Community Capacity Building, Young people, children & families

Sustainable Communities Mentorship Programme

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The BTCV Sustainable Communities Mentorship Programme aims to develop a network of Sustainable Community Mentors throughout Scotland through a series of regional training and support programmes. This highly regarded programme has already trained 100 mentors throughout Scotland to inspire their own communities to take action on Sustainability and Climate Change.

The programme starts with a two day training workshop which will provide participants with the skills and knowledge to raise awareness about Sustainability and communicate Climate Change in their own communities. They will also work on developing their own unique skills, producing Action Plans for their communities and learning tools to take forward practical Community Projects to improve local environment and take action for a more sustainable planet. After the workshop, participants will receive on-going support from local BTCV Scotland staff, resources and access to national and local skills sharing and networking events.

There is no fee for participants; costs are covered by BTCV Scotland and the Forum for Environmental Volunteering Activity.

Contact: BTCV Scotland, phone: 01786 476170 [ e-mail | website ]

Early Years, Health and wellbeing

Getting to Grips with the Great Outdoors

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104 nursery children from Alloway and Doonfoot nursery classes are getting the chance to enjoy the great outdoors thanks to an exciting new outdoor learning pilot project in South Ayrshire.

http://www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/news/South-Ayrshire-children-get-to-grips-with-the-great-outdoors.aspx

Mathematics, Sciences, Social studies, Technologies, Young people, children & families

Schools Global Footprint – refreshed resource now live

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Education Scotland’s new-look Schools Global Footprint Calculator is now live and can be viewed at: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/schoolsglobalfootprint

This key online resource has had a significant make-over and now features:

  • a user-friendly interactive calculator
  • streamlined navigation
  • a comprehensive teacher handbook
  • tutorial videos for practitioners
  • inspiring examples of how schools have used the resource to reduce their footprint.

The school estate is responsible for an estimated 50% of greenhouse gas emissions from local authorities. The online calculator allows learners to measure the ecological footprint of their school in relation to six topic areas: food, water, energy, buildings, transport and waste. Learners are also encouraged to develop innovative approaches to reducing their impact on the environment and promoting sustainable lifestyles in the wider community – from tackling the school run to growing and eating their own produce to reduce food miles.

In addition to providing an exciting real life context for delivering the experiences and outcomes, the resource greatly supports Eco-Schools activities and provides learners with skills for learning, life and work as Scotland move towards a low-carbon future.

View the Schools Global Footprint resource or find out more about Education Scotland’s sustainable development education resources.

Responsibility of All

Open day CPD event – Garrowhill Primary School, Glasgow

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Date and time: 9:30am – 3.00pm, Tuesday 29 November 2011

Theme:  Sustainable Development Education

This CPD event offers practitioners and school leaders a wonderful opportunity to visit Garrowhill Primary School – winner of the ‘Sustainable school’ category in this year’s Scottish Education Awards.

Garrowhill Primary is an inspiring example of a school that has adopted a whole school approach to sustainable development education. The secret to the school’s success has been the embedding of sustainability across the curriculum which has had a demonstrable impact on every classroom and learner. This has been driven forward by strong distributed leadership and a positive, caring ethos which permeates the school.

A focus of the event will be to identify and share the practical lessons and ideas that have helped the school move forward on its journey including: 

  • Making the most of the curriculum to provide momentum and sustain programmes
  • A strong focus on pupil voice to lead learning and activities
  • The effective use of programmes such as Eco-Schools, Fairtrade Schools and the John Muir Award to support learning and teaching
  • Extensive partnerships with the local community to transform the school’s ageing buildings and grounds through the development of an outdoor classroom, wildlife area and vegetable garden which are regularly used for curricular activities
  • The reduction in the school’s energy consumption by 30% through sustained commitment.

Participants will have the opportunity to meet and talk with the Head Teacher, staff and learners and also tour the classrooms, buildings and grounds. Time will also be set aside for participants to reflect and share their own experiences.

How to book

To book, please email: globalcitizens@educationscotland.gov.uk or Tel. 0141 282 5172.

Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. This is a free event!

Download programme by clicking on the link below

Garrowhill PS Open Day 29 Nov 11

This is one of a series of open day events organised by Education Scotland’s Developing Global Citizenship Team. View the full programme of open day events here>>

Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Responsibility of All

Learning about food: down on the farm

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One hundred and fifty Primary 6 pupils got their hands dirty down on the farm – but it was all in a good educational cause.
Children from Annanhill, Galston, Hurlford, Silverwood, Barshare and Ochiltree enjoyed a fun Food and Farming Day at Auchincruive Estate last week, to find out about the food they eat and where it comes from, courtesy of the Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET).
Youngsters enjoyed a variety of activity sessions provided by local farmers and by lecturers from the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC). They made butter and ice cream, ground some grain and toured the farm to get a closer look at dairy cows and calves. The children also tried experimental ‘egg magic’ and had some tractor fun, which incorporated basic physics activities.
To read more click here.

Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Responsibility of All

Health and Wellbeing Network

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We recently met with our HWB National Network where strategic leads from across all 32 Education Authorities as well as our NHS and Scottish Government colleagues. We had inputs around Responsibility of All aspects of HWB and skills development.  There was a very enthusiastic response to our proposal to fund staff across a range of authorities to work with us on developing exemplar materials for HWB potentially on areas around assessment, profiling and Responsibility of All.   It was a very productive and positive day as reflected in the evaluations. 

We are going to be out and about meeting with our contact authorities seeking out emerging practice and offering support.

Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Responsibility of All, Sciences, Technologies

Nourish Scotland Annual Conference 2011

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On Friday 30th September the Nourish Scotland conference was hosted at  the Pearce Institute in Govan.   The theme of the event was  the new food economy: towards a secure and sustainable future for food in Scotland. 

The event was brought to life by the arrival of  Alastair McIntosh, a Scottish writer, academic and activist who made a dramatic entrance carrying a scythe, which considering we were in Govan called to mind the 1986 film Crocodile and the famous line  “You call that a knife?  Alistair eloquently talked about the culture of Govan, now his home and the need for a better food economy for areas of deprivation. 

The event brought together over 150 delegates from all over Scotland and beyond who are highly passionate about the sustainable future of Scotland’s food industry.  There were several keynotes looking at the food economy globally, in Europe and Scotland.   Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment announced a substantial investment has been awarded to the Food and Drink Division of the Scottish Government.

Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Responsibility of All, Young people, children & families

New Book – Kurt Hahn – Inspirational, Visionary, Outdoor and Experiential Educator

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For many outdoor educators, Kurt Hahn is considered to be one of the greatest influences on the development of outdoor learning as we know it today.

This book will be of interest to those wishing to understand more about Hahn’s influence on the development of outdoor education, Outward Bound and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and its equivalents across the world.

Price: £25.00.

Published by: Sense Publishers, 2011. All profits will go to Maggie’s Edinburgh and the National Hospital Development Foundation.

Early Years, Literacy, Technologies

The Land of Me pilot project

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The past 6 months or so has seen the team from the Consolarium working within Early Years and Early Primary settings in Dundee, West Lothian and Argyll & Bute in order to explore the educational potential of a piece of software called The Land of Me. A number of posts have been made on the Consolarium blog (content soon to move over to this blog) about the work that some teachers have been doing with this resource. This post gathers all realted posts together so that they are easily accessible:

Posts from Argyll & Bute

Land of Me Initiative kicks off in Argyll & Bute

1/5 Land of Me at Port Ellen PS: Planning for Good Learning

2/5 Land of Me at Port Ellen PS: A Visit from the King of the Land of Me

3/5 Land of Me at Port Ellen PS: Gleeful Children Lost in the Learning Space

4/5 Land of Me at Port Ellen PS: Parental Involvement

5/5 Land of Me at Port Ellen PS: Encouraging Outdoor Adventure

Posts from Dundee and West Lothian

Land of Me pilot: Dundee teachers’ and EYPs’ early feedback

The Land of Me in Dundee: Building Dens in Templeton Woods

West Lothian Land of Me pilot concludes

Feedback or comment on any of these posts are most welcome. If you are using this resource or any other digital world in an early years or early primary setting then please do let us know.

Health and wellbeing, Responsibility of All

Health and Wellbeing

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New HWB and OL Team are now all in place and looking forward to the work ahead in continuing to support the embedding of HWB, and the promoting of OL, within Curriculum for Excellence.

Last week the team delivered 2 joint events, one with the SCYP team and one with SCYP and the Positive Behaviour team, to lecturers from the Teacher Education Institutes and the FE colleges. Both events were very positively evaluated and a real step forward in terms of partnership work with the colleges and the universites.

Health and wellbeing, Languages, Literacy

Literacy in the Outdoors

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Alison Hammerton and Grant Gillies worked together on a Literacy in the Outdoors day recently for the cluster ASG at Grantown on Spey. It was a really successful day and the activities all highlighted the opportunities for teaching Literacy in the Oudoors.

Visit the Glow site to see the day

Outdoor Learning Activities

Health and wellbeing, Languages, Modern Languages

Sustainability and Leadership – Community Regio Project at Bucksburn Academy

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Pupils from Bucksburn Academy engaged in a number of environmental project driven by senior students in liaison with a number of local agencies and organisations such as National Heritage Scotland and Aker Solutions.  This inspirational initiative, part of a Comenius Regio Project linking with schools as far afield as Italy on the topic of sustainability, provided pupils with valuable experiences in improving their local environment  by cultivation their school grounds, building bird and bat boxes and preparing access to a local woodland area.  The involvement in this project gained students significant leadership skills as well John Muir awards. For an analysis of the project by pupils please see the attached PowerPoint presentation and the collated comments of the student survey.