The future of Schools in the Parks

The Schools in the Parks project comes to an end today, however it has been a great success. It has been been supporting secondary schools to use local parks and greenspaces across South East London since 2008.

Although the project is finishing many legacies remain including the free equipment hire schemes.

There are two equipment hire schemes in South East London. The stores contain fieldwork equipment that will support secondary school outdoor learning sessions. Therefore if you are working with a secondary school and need to borrow some equipment (quadrats, thermometers, light meters, ID keys…) then you can book out what you need for free. Although you will need to book at least 1 week in advance.

Information about the Lambeth equipment store, including the booking procedure and what is available, can be found on the current Schools in the Parks website (which will continue to function when the project has finished).

http://www.field-studies-council.org/projects/schoolsintheparks/equipment.aspx

The Greenwich equipment store is being hosted by the John Roan School, and their booking procedure website will be live from September 2011:

www.thejohnroanschool.co.uk/fieldstudies

Please pass on this information to any schools in London that you think would benefit from the scheme.

The Schools in the Parks project has also been running free training sessions for environmental educators. These training sessions are now completed, but if you are interested in any of the FSC’s other projects or training opportunities please visit their website.

www.field-studies-council.org

Although the Schools in the Parks project has now come to an end the Field Studies Council will be continuing to deliver education across London as it has just opened it’s 18th field study centre in Stratford East London – FSC London East. You can browse through their activities by visiting the FSC website.

So, finally, to all those who have supported the project over the last three years – thank you! It was been wonderful, and good luck with all your environmental education projects in the future.

Summer 2011: Plenty of parks and the 3 Rivers Clean Up

It was a busy Summer for the Schools in the Parks project with hundreds of students taking part in activities in their local park. The John Roan school took advantage of Greenwich Park once again with groups from science and mathematics heading out to explore their local area.

The ’3 Rivers Clean Up’ event was once again a success. The multi-agency conservation event aims to remove the invasive Himalayan Balsam from the river basin of the Ravensbourne. Over 400 people took part in events across Greenwich, Lewisham and Bromley.  Four secondary schools were guided through activities by the Schools in the Parks project with support from London Wildlife Trust, QWAG, and Surrey Docks Farm. The students that took part were fantastic and really engaged with the conservation project. Their enthusiasm can be seen in some of the comments from Eltham Hill Technology College students and teachers:

“I enjoyed walking through the river, exploring the banks. I also like pulling the Himalayan balsam from the river bank. …..the mud was slippery and there were lots of rocks. Overall I had a brilliant time” Rachel 7M

“I had hoped the trip would be Inspiring, increase confidence and the learning would be kinaesthetic and used with purpose, “ Mr Waring.

   

April 2011: Citizenship in the Park

The beautiful weather over the last month has led to some fantastic days for many students heading out in to parks.

image from www.london2012.com

Many students have been visiting Greenwich Park as part of their citizenship lessons to explore the Olympic events that will be taking place in 2012 (with test events this year). The year 8 classes have been interviewing members of the public and making short videos reporting on the upcoming events. The residents (and toursits!) visiting Greenwich Park have been very helpful in answering lots of questions, giving students a real insight in to local opinions about the changes that will be taking place.

A Schools in the Parks article has also just been accepted into the ASE journal, School Science Review. It should be published in the next few months so keep a look out! The article, written by Melissa Glackin (Kings College London) and myself, focuses on outdoor learning  in urban parks. It comments on the results of both the London Outdoor Science and SITP school surveys, and includes recommendations based on the successes of the Schools in the Parks project on overcoming the barriers of accessing outdoor space within a school day.  The article should make a valuable contribution to the growing body of evidence that suggests teaching outside the classroom is something all students should be entitled to.

March 2011: Parliamentary enquiry – practicals and fieldwork

The science and technology parliamentary committee have announced an enquiry in to practical experiments in school science lessons and science field trips. They are inviting written submissions from those with an interest in the subject. To find out more visit the parliamentary webpages.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/science-and-technology-committee/news/110405-school-science—ev-session/

This is a great opportunity to raise the profile of outdoor learning, and get your voice heard. If you decide to respond I would be really interested to hear what you have to say too: beth@field-studies-council.org

Responses need to have been received by May 11th 2011

February 2011: Positivity and the Olympics

Yet another session has taken placed at the Wide Horizons Curriculum centre this month. This time the session focussed on positive behaviour management techniques. With many people worried about the challenging behaviour they might face from secondary pupils, this session was a chance to put together a behaviour management toolkit with an expert in the field; Gill Chenery. Previously a geography teacher and, until recently, an advisor on attendance and behaviour management for the National Strategies. She now works as an independent consultant delivering training. So, if you are interested in getting some expert advice for your education team, or want to browse through her resources, visit the website: gillcheneryassociates

FSC London East and the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) organised a training day for the South East London geography teachers network. The session was held in the ViewTube classroom, run by the FSC, which overlooks the Olympic Park. The afternoon session inspired teachers to think about creative ways to carry out fieldwork in urban environments. The RGS activities are available on their fieldwork education web pages. www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/fieldwork/

January 2011: Promoting good pedagogy in the outdoor classroom

The Association for Science Education (ASE) conference takes place every January, the Schools in the Parks presented a workshop to participants from as far as Norway. Despite the intense rain we donned our waterproofs and took a trip out into the Reading University grounds (where the conference was held) to try out some activities.

As the winter snow had finally melted the “good teaching practice” training session was finally able to take place at the Wide Horizons curriculum centre. The session was very popular, with lots of new people from the London environmental education network coming along. Participants spent the day exploring the wonderful site in Greenwich and considering how to improve their education sessions through questioning, assessment for learning, starters, plenaries and teaching through misconceptions.

Unfortunately, like many others across the UK, the WideHorizons curriculum centre is having its funding withdrawn from Greenwich Council. They have a couple of years to become self sustaining, So please go along to one of their events to see the centre and help them raise money to keep the centre open.

The closure of environmental centres across the UK is a growing trend, the FSC is currently collating data on this and will be reporting to government with their findings in Spring.

LEEF training

The Schools in the Parks project works with a number of organisations across London, including the London Environmental Education Forum (LEEF). This a great way to find out about training, environmental news, jobs and training opportunities. Membership is very reasonable, and you get weekly emails, access to a London wide network and cheaper training.  www.leef.org.uk

The up coming training events include:

LEEF Training Day – Playing with Fire Thursday 17th February 2011 from 10 – 3:30 pm For people who work with children and young people at Hackney City Farm, Hackney Road Enric Cucarella London Wildlife Trust’s Bushcraft and Wilderness Skills Coordinator will teach you how to light and cook on fires safely with children and young people. £25 for members and £50 for non-members Email me to book your place; aportch@wildlondon.org.uk;

LEEF Training Day – Telling tales Thursday 10th March 2011 from 10 – 3:30 pm For people who work with children and young people at the Royal Park’s Holly Lodge Centre in Richmond Park Story tellers Richard Sylvester and Anna Portch will get you telling stories, making story books and learning story telling games for children from 2 to 102 £25 for members and £50 for non-members Email me to book your place; aportch@wildlondon.org.uk;

LEEF Residential – Environmental Education Weekend Residential 26th and 27th March For environmental educators at the Quadrangle Kent A skill sharing and training weekend to give you lots of new ideas to revive your environmental, sustainability and outdoor education sessions in the spring £100 for LEEF members and £160 for non-member Email me to book your place; aportch@wildlondon.org.uk;

Finally, they are offering FREE training to 19-25 year olds. A poster is here: FreeLEEFtraining

ASE Outdoor Science Report 2011

A new ASE report by the outdoor science working group has just been published. The report was launched in Parliament on January 19th 2011. The report outlines 6 key recommendations which were produced from discussions held between over 100 professionals working in the field.

The recommendations (in brief)

1) Increased presence of fieldwork training at all levels of PGCE training

2) A dedicated outdoor science website

3) Performance management and designations should recognise support of, or use of, fieldwork in teaching

4) Awarding bodies should have the flexibility to increase open ended summative assessment that recognises the skills obtained through fieldwork

5) Coordinated research to investigate the impacts of fieldwork in science

6) Combined effort by organisations and high profile supporters to promote the positive attitudes towards fieldwork.

Schools in the Parks was involved in some of the discussions which led to the production of the report, and even got a mention on radio 4 as a result!

The report can be downloaded by clicking here

December 2010: Snow!

Snow disrupted large parts of the country throughout December, and the Schools in the Parks project
did not escape! The training session “an introduction to good teaching practice” had to be rescheduled at the last minute as the venue, Widehorizons environmental curriculum service in Greenwich, was under several inches of snow.

The session has now been rescheduled for the end of January, fingers crossed the weather is a bit milder next time!

 

November 2010: Winter trees

November was a month filled with snow and winter weather, however the environmental educators of London donned thick coats and wellington boots to take part in the “winter tree identification” training session held in Brockwell Park, Lambeth. The session was a great success with the South London Botanical Institute on hand to impart their expert knowledge.

Towards the end of the month, as the weather got even colder, the SITP project worked alongside LEEF and LWT to run behaviour management training at Holland Park ecology centre; a great venue, complete with python! A further behaviour management session will be held on February 10th in Greenwich, drop an email to beth@field-studies-council.org if you are interested in coming along as there are a few spaces left.