We are ideally placed to offer interesting courses for this age group; bushcraft and bow making, conservation skills and woodland crafts. We are so pleased to hear that Somerset County Council’s Youth grants will help us offer subsidized courses and we are now busy planning a programme for 2009-10.
Do get in touch if you are interested and within this age group or work with a group that is.
We were thrilled to be awarded funding from the Field Studies Council in the summer of 2007 to develop and trial a living history resource for KS2 to be used in woodlands. The project was conducted on behalf of the Yeovil and Dorset Forest Education Initiative Cluster group who we work closely with.
The object of the resource is to make children more aware of the history of woodlands and the importance of conserving them for the future. It also aims to give children a new insight into the past through a combination of practical experience and drama.
We have run Viking Days for schools and home education groups in woods and in school grounds. We made Viiking barley bread on an open fire and ate it with stinging nettles (everyone liked them) or with honey on wooden plates; we told sagas and discussed daily life in Viking times; we held ‘things’ and got very carried away with all the role play so much so that we almost believed the look outs when they reported seeing wolves and Saxons approaching…
As a result of our sessions, we have produced a booklet with activity plans so that schools and groups can run their own ‘Viking Days’. We hope it will encourage more schools to get out into their woodlands for learning.
We ran a training day for teachers wanting to run their own Viking Days in November 2008. The booklet ‘How to run your own Viking Day’ is free to download from the FEI web site (see links). We will be running more Viking Days for children in school holidays and can also assist schools should they wish to host a day.
The Subscriptions and Donations Committee of Westland have generously agreed to support our project.
We are most grateful to them for £250 which we are planning to spend on a shed in which to store our tools and other bits and pieces in our new wood.
The Forest Education Initiative (FEI) a nationwide campaign that makes connections between the forestry and forest products sectors and Britain’s young people, has awarded funds to the Yeovil and Dorset FEI cluster group for two projects.
A grant of £1798 has been awarded by the FEI Partnership fund for a pilot study to be run with local schools in the Somerton and Glastonbury area, to trial a KS2 Living History resource which Deb Millar of the Central Somerset Outdoor Learning Partnership is producing. Resources which can be used for outdoor learning in woodlands are available for many curriculum linked subjects from the FEI website but this will be the first History resource for children.
A further Forest School project is being run at Ashlands First School in Crewkerne.
Deb Millar, archaeologist and Forest School Leader is delighted. “The cluster group are very grateful to the FEI partnership fund. The grants will make a big difference to these projects.”
The Forest Education Initiative has over 40 active Clusters around the UK grouped under the leadership of county co-ordinators in England, Scotland and Wales. Thousands of children take part each year in FEI-led activities intended to bring home the sustainable nature of wood and to encourage outdoor learning in forest environments. Further information can be found at: www.foresteducation.org