Radnorshire Outdoor Learning Wales Network Group Meeting
Wednesday 15th June 2016
4.15pm
Outdoor Classroom, Builth Wells CP School
Minutes
1. Welcome, introductions and apologies
Present:
Kate Jones – Natural Resources Wales
Liz Dingle – Rhayader C in W School
Colin Williams
Alison Underhill – Ysgol Dolafon
Suzie Fraser – Radnorshire Wildlife Trust
Michelle Davies – Builth Wells CP School
Shân Price – Builth Wells CP School
Michelle Pugh – Newbridge-on-Wye C in W School
Apologies:
Clare Anthony – Irfon Valley CP School
Emma Beynon
Gina Mead – Builth Wells High School
Helen McCarthy – Knighton Primary School
2. Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting
It was agreed to discuss matters as they arise through the agenda.
3. Finance update
There is £4180 in the Network Group bank account now that the £3480 storytelling grant has been received.
4. Outdoor Storytelling project
The project group met in April and plans are well underway.
Knighton Primary School are no longer able to take part so their place has been filled by Newbridge-on-Wye C in W School who had emailed to take part originally but just missed out on a place.
It is planned to order the storytelling chairs before the end of term for them to be in place for use at the start of the new school year in September.
Project participants and chair details are shown in the table:
School / Contact / Resource Pack Topic / Chair and CostsYsgol Dolafon / Alison Underhill / The Natural Environment, Plants and Animals / Yew £450
£250 grant
£200 to be paid by school
Builth Wells Primary School / Michelle Davies/ Shan Price / Sustainable Development, Seed to Saw / Larch £250
£250 grant
No payment from school
Newbridge-on-Wye C in W / Michelle Pugh / Global Education / Yew £450
£250 grant
£200 to be paid by school
Ysgol Trefonnen / Eliot Lawrence / Poetry / Bench/es instead of chair
£250 larch or £450 yew?
TBC
Irfon Valley CP School / Clare Anthony / The Seasons and Weather / Oak £545 locally sourced, Clare ordered
£250 grant
£295 to be paid by school
Rhayader C in W School / Liz Dingle / Welsh Myths and Legends / Larch £250
£250 grant
No payment from school
ACTION POINT: Eliot to confirm which bench/es to order for Trefonnen School asap
ACTION POINT: Kate to order chairs asap and find out if delivery is included in quoted cost
Each resource pack will contain two topic sheets; one for foundation phase and one for key stage two. The topic sheet has been adapted for easier use. Clare and Alison were reimbursed for books purchased for their resource packs and supply cover. All books need to be stamped or similar to identify them as OLW property.
ACTION POINT: Alison/Clare to send updated topic sheet to Kate
ACTION POINT: Kate to share new topic sheet with all
ACTION POINT: Kate to find out if OLW stamp available
It was agreed that six boxes to house the resource packs would be purchased with Network Group funds. Suggestions included whether to have wooden or plastic boxes, made from recycled materials or green in colour for a natural look.
ACTION POINT: Kate to research and bring options and prices to next meeting
It was agreed that the resource packs should be complete by the beginning of the new school year in September. Emma Beynon will then spend half a day at each school running creative writing sessions with children, which will be funded by the project grant. Sessions must be booked directly with Emma .
Schools will keep their own box for the first half of the autumn term to use it and amend or adjust if needed before sharing with the other schools. The borrowing of boxes will be managed by the Group secretary if this support is still facilitated by NRW. If not, it was suggested that each school keeps their own box and contact other schools directly to borrow or swap boxes.
It was agreed that the OLW Group’s own funds will be used to buy extra resources, especially Welsh versions, to ensure all resources are bilingual. There will now be £100 available to be spent on each resource pack. The resource pack topic sheets and any other resources can be translated into Welsh through NRW’s translation service but must be sent to Kate before the end of July. The Welsh Books Council website http://www.cllc.org.uk/home is recommended to source Welsh books which can be purchased through gwales.com http://www.gwales.com/home/?tsid=2
ACTION POINT: All to send materials for translation to Kate before the end of July
A budget sheet is needed to keep track of project costs.
ACTION POINT: Kate to create budget sheet and share with Liz
Outdoor storytelling twilight session -
We will be holding an outdoor storytelling twilight session to complement the project on Thursday 30th June at Newbridge-on-Wye C in W School from 4.00pm until 5.30pm.
The session will be run by Suzie Fraser from Radnorshire Wildlife Trust. It will include practical ideas for teaching literacy outdoors through storytelling activities. More information can be found in the flyer attached to the invitation email.
The session is free to attend but places must be booked beforehand on a first come, first served basis. Places are limited to two per school taking part in our outdoor storytelling project and one place for other schools.
If you would like to book a place or for more information please contact Kate Jones before Tuesday 28th June, or 0300 065 3979 / 07919 112279.
ACTION POINT: Kate to invite all Radnorshire OLW members by email asap
ACTION POINT: Those interested in attending to contact Kate to book places
5. OLW Outdoor Explorer Special Grant
Outdoor Learning Wales was offering each network group an “Outdoor Explorer” Special Grant of £200 which could be amalgamated with the annual small grant of £200. It was suggested to use this money to buy books to give out at the storytelling twilight session but unfortunately, since the meeting it has been announced that the grant scheme has been closed for the rest of the year as funds have been depleted. Therefore the special and small grants are no longer available.
6. Resource boxes
The Network Group has three resource boxes available for local schools to borrow to support their outdoor learning. For more information or to borrow a box please contact .
· Box 1 (starter) – currently with Irfon Valley School, Builth Wells Primary School to borrow next
· Box 2 – currently with Ysgol Dolafon, Builth High School to borrow next
· Box 3 (Life through a lens) – currently with Rhayader Primary School, Newbridge-on-Wye School to borrow next
ACTION POINT: Schools to pass on boxes to next in line when possible
7. Updates from those present
Radnorshire Wildlife Trust are supporting 30 Days Wild - all you need to do is one random act of wildness each day during June; it can take just a few seconds, or a few hours depending on how much spare time you have. Sign up now at http://www.rwtwales.org/node/3104 to receive your 30 Days Wild pack, which includes a wallchart, badges and stickers. Or contact Suzie Fraser for more information. Suzie will also be supporting Franksbridge Primary School’s eco day at the end of the month.
Rhayader School are running a forest school after school club in the school’s own woodland every week, which is well attended. The sessions are run by Local Roots, from Ashfield in Howey. More information can be found on the Local Roots website http://www.local-roots.co.uk/#!after-school-club---rhayader-school/y2e7j Gardening club have been busy in the greenhouse and school grounds, and the healthy school and eco committees have been combined to help manage.
Ysgol Dolafon’s gardening club is going well and an application has been made for a Tesco grant to build an outdoor shelter. There is a problem with pests eating food from bird tables! It was recommended to put out small amounts of bird food at certain times each day so that there isn’t a constant supply to attract pests. A school grounds day was held with litter picking, weeding and re-doing the weaving along fences. Weaving materials were bought from Trysordy Treasure House, Llansteffan Road, Carmarthen, SA31 3QU, Tel 01267 231 980. Milk cartons were also recycled into birds to decorate the school grounds. Instructions can be found here http://www.edenproject.com/learn/for-everyone/how-to-recycle-a-milk-carton-into-a-beautiful-bird
Newbridge-on-Wye School recently held a ground force day with over 40 helpers who turned up to clean and tidy the outdoor space. A new outdoor area has been barked and logs donated from BSW sawmill will be added. A member of staff is a trained forest school leader and has been building dens, making bug hotels and lighting fires during sessions. The pupils have taken part in the decorated wheelbarrow competition for the Royal Welsh Show and the eco committee have been busy junk modelling and planting. The school has also applied for a Tesco grant to build a roundhouse.
Builth Primary School held a DIY SOS event where helpers cleared an overgrown outdoor space and found a pond! There are ideas in the pipeline to use the ground for a cycle path. Nature club is going well and a forest school club has just started.
If you have any information that you would like to share with the Group, please email it to Kate .
Local and National updates
· Natural Resources Wales (NRW)
As you will have read in the OLW Bulletin and in the letter sent this month, NRW plans to move from delivering hands on environmental educational experiences to a more influencing and facilitating role. The new NRW education service will be comprised of four permanent roles and two temporary roles. If you have any comments or feedback about this please send them to .
· Outdoor Learning Wales (OLW)
The future of OLW within NRW’s new education model remains unclear at this time. The OLW Coordinator has completed an options paper for OLW to support NRW in making decisions on the best way forward for the Network. It is hoped that we will be able to provide you with the outcome of those decisions in due course.
The OLW Facebook page is available at https://www.facebook.com/groups/outdoorlearningwales/ and the OLW website at http://www.outdoorlearningwales.org/home.
The monthly OLW bulletin is sent to all members by email. If you do not receive it or have any other queries regarding OLW please contact .
· Real World Learning Cymru Partnership (RWLCP)
More information about RWLCP can be found at http://www.rwlcp.org/index.htm including their aims, contact information, links and resources.
8. Date and venue of next meetings
Radnorshire OLW Group meeting:
September 2016 TBC
OLW Network Group Agenda Last Updated March 2014