A Well Kept Secret

I am wondering whether you have ever tried to pull a door open, only to notice afterwards the big sign shouting "PUSH"! This happens to me sometimes. My eye sight is fine. I'm just not seeing.

This past year I have being going in and out of schools and early years centres as a facilator on behalf of Grounds for Learning, the Scottish school grounds charity. Thankfully I am almost always greeted at the front door by a member of staff and don't have to fathom out whether the main entrance door needs to be pushed or pulled.

The vast majority of settings I visit have GfL membership. Once a school signs up, an almost empty file is sent to them along with a membership card and number. Six times a year newsletters and information sheets are sent out which can be stuck in this file for keeps. The literature frequently refers to the GfL website reminding schools that additional resources can be freely downloaded by their members. It's a very sensible approach in that schools only need to print out what they need.

Except only one establishment I have visited in the past 15 months has actually made use of this facility. I know because I ask at every school, regardless of the purpose of my visit.

So, the moral of this entry is to push those buttons on your keyboard, log on to the GfL website, and pull down those resources which you have paid for. It's worth it! Seeing is believing.

Note: If you are in England and Wales, Learning Through Landscapes provides the same service.

Obstacles on the Path

Let me share this parable with you. It was sent to me by a Czech friend, Radka Kozielova...

“In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded.

As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one's condition.”

What fascinated me was the obvious link to outdoor learning. Oh yes! Pick up any recent research or literature about outdoor learning in Scotland and within a few minutes you will stumble across the phrase “barriers to outdoor learning”. And like the merchants and courtiers there has been talk, talk and perhaps too much talk about the barriers and not enough focus on actually removing them for all children, teachers and schools. There isn’t a pot of money underneath any outdoor learning obstacle. But there is the opportunity to improve the quality of education for our youngsters. Is it worth the effort?

"Winter either bites with its teeth or lashes with its tail"

Well it's finally happened! Aberdeenshire has succumbed to the snow infection, most schools are feeling under the weather and have had to close. Poor things!

If you have strong feelings about school's closing then there's been a bit of a debate going on, in various forums and blogs around the UK. On the Ecademy website I actually liked the suggestion of one psychologist that we should consider the approach taken in some parts of the USA where if a school is closed then then it stays open an extra day in the summer. However I can imagine those who've booked holidays at the start not being too amused by this.

If you have not seen the free Winter Wonderland pack on my website, then take a look and download a copy. There's lots of ideas for having a ball in the snow. I like the headless snowman activity. This involves making a headless snowman. Next you get different hats, sunglasses, etc. and take turns at dressing up, standing behind the snowman and pretending to be the head. It makes for great photos!

Finally, remember we are all snowflakes. Individually we are beautiful, fragile creations. Collectively we can cause havoc!