The P5, P6 & P7 Inter-school Orienteering Festival takes place at Vogrie Country Park on the 4^th of May 2016. This year the Festival will be open to all Primary Schools in Midlothian and East Lothian.

The main aims of the Festival are to:

• Have fun!
• Promote alternative physical activity in the outdoors
• Provide an opportunity for pupils to compete in the sport of orienteering
• Further increase pupils’ understanding of maps
• Experience skills for learning and skills for life
• Meet pupils from other schools

Festival information:

• Schools can enter P5, P6 & P7 classes
• There will be 3 different Orienteering courses suited to the ability of each class
• There will be no charge for this event
• Each school is responsible for arranging the transport of pupils to and from Vogrie Country Park
• Each class can expect to be involved in Orienteering activities for about an hour
• There will be no tuition on the day and it is expected participating students will have received tuition in their school grounds or at a CATO event
• Schools will be asked to attend either a morning or afternoon time slot within school hours
• Before or after the Orienteering Event schools can avail of other opportunities at Vogire Country Park – e.g. Orienteering warm up activities (staffed by Outdoor Learning) or Adventure Playground, Woodland walks – these should be fully organised and supervised by attending school staff
• The winner of the fastest P5 pupil, P6 pupil, P7pupil, School and Authority will be announced after the event

To enter:

• To enter please email me (eoin.keane@midlothian.gov.uk) the name of the school, the number of classes, the class size and the number of adults that will be attending by the 18^th of March 2016
• Once all interested schools have replied, further information will follow

Other resources and events:

• An interesting booklet for coaching orienteering in primary schools is available from New Zealand click here to see it.