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Outdoor Evidence – Education and Culture Committee – Scottish Parliament

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This  is a video link for the recent meeting held by the Education and Culture Committee on the 12th December 2013. As members of SAPOE Midlothian Outdoor Learning submitted evidence (can be seen in the agenda papers) to support the SAPOE chair. We were also fortunate to have excellent representation by Christine Anderson of Beeslack High School Midlothian.

The evidence and discussions support much of the issues we submitted in our evidence to the Panel, such as the work outlined by SAPOE Chair Nigel Marshall on  “enabling outdoor learning” and help sets the agenda for Midlothian Schools and communities developing a more cohesive approach to Outdoor learning and outdoor education.

There is also an excellent discussion and evidence to support the value of outdoor education throughout the subject areas and the relationship between them i.e. interdisciplinary,  as Professor Higgins notes on the use of outdoor space and progressive outdoor education experiences;

 ” …the kids can learn not just about the subject areas, but the way in which they join up”

We are looking forward to tackling some of the challenges ahead for the Midlothian learning community and it’s approach to Outdoor Learning and Outdoor Education (one and the same!) and enabling as an Outdoor Learning team to provide;

Relevant, well planned, high quality outdoor learning opportunities for all our pupils, that contribute to outcomes and attainment across the curriculum subjects enabling learning behaviours that can contribute to successful lifelong learning and positive destinations.

 

 

Evolve & Get Out There

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GOT ImageA  reminder to all our establishments that the new guidance and Scottish Framework for Safe Practice in Off-Site Visits is available and was published in March 2013.

This framework produced by a range of partners i.e.  the Scottish Government, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) , the Scottish Advisory Panel for Outdoor Education (SAPOE), Education Scotland and the Association of Directors of Education. This framework updates the previous Health and Safety on Educational Excursions (HASEE) guidance.

It provides a range of advice on safe practice and

“adopts a  low bureaucracy, enabling approach to outdoor experience and off-site visits”

It can be used to plan and support visits alongside the current Midlothian Guidelines for off-site visits. we will be updating our guidelines and EV1 forms soon to reflect some of the changes and all heads of establishments/those responsible for off-site visits will be contacted with further updates shortly.evolve_logo

We also hope to have new of an exiting new development on the use of EVOLVE (Educational Visit On-line visit and activity planning, processing, monitoring and reporting tool for LAs, schools and academies). As well as providing establishments with a planning tool aligned to current guidelines this will also allow us to adopt a faster turn-around of approval forms and update our current process for approving off-site visits.

The current system for Midlothian can be found here.

 

Come and Try Biking – CATB

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In the New Year the Outdoor Learning Team are piloting some new Come and Try Biking days. It will be an exciting opportunity for P6s and P7s to come and test their biking ability on our challenging skills course.

 If you are interested in your class participating in these events please read the table below and contact me at eoin.keane@midlothian.gov.uk  before the 31st January 2014, thanks

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Dates 4,11,18,25 March 2014 23,24,29,30 April 2014
Day plan We will work with half your class in the morning and half your class in the afternoon. We will run an off road skills sessions that will included; bike checks, gears and brakes familiarisation, skills course, time trails. Sessions will last approximately two hours each.
Equipment We will provide; bike, helmet, gloves, waterproofs.Students require; warm clothing, medicine (asthma inhaler, etc), snack, drink, and a full change of clothes and footwear (to be at school on students return).
Transport We will collect half the class in the morning in our bus and when they return to the school we will collect the other half. If the activity location is within walking distance from the school, it would be good if the students could walk.
Transport We will provide this.
Staffing It would be beneficial if an adult could attend with each group.
Activity location Depending on where your school is we deliver the activity at a suitable location close by, some venues might include; Penicuik Park, Dalkeith Campus, Newtongrange Park, Lasswade HS.
Cost There is a small charge of £1 per student.
EV1 Please ensure that an EV1 form is submitted showing provider as Midlothian Council Outdoor Learning Service. (AALS licence number is  L10250/R1370).
Further development Some of the skills covered will be from Cycling Scotland’s ‘Go MTB’ scheme details can be found here. 

Snow Business – Winter Hillwalking Skills – Midlothian S6 Pupils – 2014

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an-ice-axe-in-the-snowAs the first snows begin to lie on our amazing  Scottish hills (Snow at Penicuik on the Pentland Hills – Just a dusting!). It’s time to brush up on those winter hill skills and get out into the amazing winter playground.

Based at Lagganlia in the Cairngorms and in partnership with our friends at  East Lothian Outdoor Learning we are offering the following 6 places for S6 students (+ 1 accompanying staff member) to experience and develop journeying in the amazing Scottish hills in winter.

The course cost includes all instruction by qualified Winter Mountain Leaders, transport and food. Interested? want to find out more? click the link below.

Winter Skills for S6 Pupils 2014.

…and did we mention there is also a Winter Hill Weekend aimed at MLC Staff too.

Danderhall Delivers

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Over the past four weeks the P7s from Danderhall Primary School have completed a hillwalk each Tuesday. Each week we have taken a different route in the Pentlands and climbed hills such as Castlelaw and

CastlelawHillFort-bp-sHarbour Hill. We have had to deal with all kinds of weather from strong winds to hailstones!

While completing the hillwalk each group has discussed the different land users who frequent the Pentlands – from Farmers to the Army. One of the highlights was visiting Castlelaw Hill Fort and the underground Earth House – more information about this can be found here. All of the P7 students that attended rose to the challenge which was extremely impressive considering the weather we experienced, and on the day each groups behaviour was exemplary