Related to the Information Given on the Original Application

FEI CLUSTER GROUP PROJECT REPORT

Related to the information given on the original application

Your Project Report is due no later than 6 months from the date on which you receive the cheque from the Partnership Fund.

Once stored on the website the information you provide will enable other clusters to duplicate all or part of your project, locate the resources you have produced or contact your cluster to share ideas and best practice.

Please make sure that you read this BEFORE your project starts as your Final Project Report should include answers to all the following questions. E.g. you will need to make sure that you keep accurate records of the numbers of people involved in the project.

Please include a detailed financial breakdown including a statement of the final income and expenditure. These accounts will be subject to sample audit.

If the project has not been completed within this six months a brief interim report will be required with a full project report on completion.

If for any reason the project does not take place, please note that the Partnership Fund reserves the right to request the return the grant (or part of it, if the project has been only partially completed).

Please include photos of the project & confirm that FEI has permission to use photos / images of the project on the FEI website or in future publicity material.

PROJECT INFORMATION

Project Title / FINAL REPORT Dec 2014: Raising Standards Through Outdoor Learning

Name of cluster group

/ Newport

Give a brief description of project. How did it change, if at all, from the description given in Q6?

Raising Standards through Outdoor Learning aimed to develop a learning resource pack to help teachers to take their children outdoors more regularly. With lots of easily accessible activity ideas and each activity linked to the Literacy and Numeracy Framework, we hoped that the pack would give teachers the confidence to go outdoors, and to also show their Headteachers that they can lead some valuable learning outdoors. It was hoped that we could use the Vale of Glamorgan’s Forest School activity pack and extend their ideas. We also hoped to present the project to Headteachers over a whole day, at Allt yr Yn Local Nature Reserve, and that the pack would be shared on the FEI/OLW website.
As expected, there were some changes to original plan! The pack produced by Vale of Glamorgan was not available electronically, resulting in us writing all of the activities ourselves. Secondly, the Headteachers Day turned into a Teachers Morning, still very successful, but not quite as planned as Heads generally delegated their invite to a teacher. Thirdly, we used the National Trust’s Tredegar House rather than Allt yr Yn LNR for the event. And fourthly, we hoped that the pack would be completed for the Teachers Morning, but we were only able to release a draft pack as we did not anticipate how much work was required in writing the pack.
We have also been able to add to and extend to the original project plan. In September 2014 we were able to present the pack to the Head’s Forum, which is a meeting which takes place every few months, for all the Head’s in Newport. We had a short slot to showcase the pack to all the Primary Head’s, which went down very well. We were also able to highlight the work of OLW, which resulted in a number of new members. The work party was also invited to present the pack at an EYE conference (Early Years Education) in October. Over 150 teachers from Newport, Monmouthshire and Torfaen attended, and were able to see examples of the pack being used by cluster group’s members, and to see some sample copies of the pack printed out.
The final event linked to the project, was a teacher training/demonstration day on 21st November, where teachers could come along for free to observe some classes of children taking part in outdoor learning activities, and also receive printed copies of the pack.
And finally, it is now uploaded to the OLW website, to save on printing, and the has been translated into Welsh, which has also been uploaded.

Where did the idea for your project come from? Refer to Q21

Members of the Newport FEI (as was) group were all reporting difficulty in actually getting their children outside. Part of this they felt was a lack of understanding of the benefits of outdoor learning within their school, and particularly within their senior management team. It was felt that a resource pack with activity ideas, and importantly, LNF links, would provide some concrete evidence that they could take their class outside and still ‘tick boxes’. The pack was also aimed at teachers in the school who were not confident in taking their class outside (and therefore who weren’t members of the FEI), so that they could have a bank of activities to refer to for ideas.
Project start and completion date. (Q15) / Start: January 2014. Completion: January 2015
Where did the project take place? Who owned the land? Contact details if applicable. (Q14) / The project took place, predominately at schools who hosted the working party for a day.
The Teachers Morning in June, and the Demonstration Day in November, where both held at the National Trust’s Tredegar House site. They have large grounds, but being mostly grassland with a small woodland area are similar to school grounds facilities. They were also able to offer us their Education Room to make us of for refreshments.
The large grounds at Tredegar House are owned by Newport City Council but leased by the National Trust.
Lead organisation for project and contact details / Newport Outdoor Learning Cluster group chairperson: Natalie Waller (Newport City Council) or 01633 210561
List any other partners or organisations involved / Natural Resources Wales – Haf Leyshon & Sheena O’Leary
Gwent Wildlife Trust – Kathy Barclay
RSPB – field teachers
University of South Wales, Caerleon - teacher training department.

FEI CLUSTER GROUP PROJECT REPORT

Related to the information given on the original application

INPUTS

FEI funding

Amount Requested: £3850 (Special Grant) & £2900 (Special Grant top up) = £6,750

Amount Rewarded: £6,750.00

List project costs and total expenditure indicating items funded by FEI. (Attach a separate account if available). (Q26a)

Supply teacher costs for working party to develop pack, prepare for event and deliver event @ £145 per day, per teacher. 27 ½ days x £145 = £3,987.50
Transport costs for taking children to June Teachers event = £70.00
Transport costs for 2 buses to bring two classes to November Demonstration Day = £175
Refreshments for June Teachers event = £12.42
Supplies/refreshments for November Teachers event = £19.74
Welsh translation costs for whole pack - £2,305

Total Spend to Date: £6,569.66
£6,750.00 – £6,569.66 = £180.34. The remaining money will be spent on printing a small number of hard copies of the pack for the staff on the working party.
All above costs are FEI funded.
List source and amount of actual match funding. It is recognised that this may be different from that listed in Q26b.
Not sure if this is needed:
Advice and support from Newport City Council’s Biodiversity in Schools Officer – 11days @ £135 per day = £1,485.00
Advice and support from Gwent Wildlife Trust’s Education Officer – 4 days @ £135 per day = £540.00
EYE meeting organiser (Education Achievement Service) funded supply cover costs for preparation time: 2 days @ £145 = £290
TOTAL= £2315.00
Was any money left over? If so, on what was it spent? NB: Significant under spends should be declared and returned.
Currently £180.34 left over, which will be spent on printing costs.

OUTPUTS – the services, activities or products delivered by the project

Original Estimate from Q16 or Q11

Actual numbers

No. of teachers involved in project design

No. of teachers trained

No. of teachers involved in project delivery

No. of pre-school groups involved

No. of primary schools involved

No. of secondary schools involved

No. of tertiary students involved

Total number of students involved

No. of volunteers/parents involved

Total number of students visiting woodlands

Total number of children visiting mill/plant

No. of individuals trained

How many individuals are from ethnic minority backgrounds?

How many individuals are disabled?

Notes re above results:

The actual number of schools involved has been hard to count as we have reports of a number of schools using the pack but we have been unable to record accurately. This could be up to 20-30 schools across Wales.
Describe any resources produced.
An activity pack – Raising Standards through Outdoor Learning – has been produced. Nearly 50 different activities across a wide range of themes, each being linked to the Literacy and Numeracy Framework. The pack has been converted to pdf and is available for downloading on the OLW Newport Network Group web page, in English and Welsh.
Publisher of resource (if applicable).
NRW & Newport City Council
Curriculum subject(s) (if applicable). How did the project relate to these (Q18)
The project is linked in detail to the Literacy and Numeracy Framework, however the activities cover a broad range of subjects, right across the Foundation Phase Curriculum and Wales Curriculum 2008.
Is the original artwork available to place on the FEI website? If so please attach. If not, give details of how other clusters can obtain a copy
The resource pack is available for downloading from the OLW website.
Are the benefits of the project still continuing and are they sustainable? (Q19)
The pack is being spread right across Wales, through the OLW Network Groups, as well being spread to every school in Newport through email updates and the teacher training events. The feedback which we have received so far has been very positive, with all teachers thinking that they will be able to make use of it. It is hoped that amendments and updates will be sent in to the Network Group, as teachers try out the activities and see how well they work/how to improve them. We are also encouraging teachers to send in completely new activities, ones which they already do perhaps, in order to expand the pack and bring in even more ideas. This could mean that the pack becomes a working document, updated once or twice a year perhaps.

Did you have press / TV / radio coverage of the project or at any events? If so, please include details.

A press release was written for the June training event, and was published in the South Wales Argus. Press release and printed article attached.
OUTCOMES – These are all the changes, benefits, learning or other effects that happen as a result of what is delivered. They can be expected or unexpected, positive or negative, intermediate or end
Give a brief description of any outcomes expected from Q16 plus any unforeseen that occurred.
It was expected that the resource pack produced would raise awareness of the benefits of outdoor learning for teachers and headteachers, as well as provide a tool, a bank of ideas, to facilitate outdoor learning for all teachers. This will enable more children to take part in more learning in the outdoor environment, which will improve their health and wellbeing. It was also hoped that the teachers who want to get outside, will now be able to justify the learning that can take place outside.
We think that all of these expected outcomes have occurred, judging by the feedback which is coming in from teachers and headteachers.
Additionally, the Newport Network Group now has many more new members as a result of the production and promotion of the pack, and useful connections have been made with other organisations in Newport, most notably the Early Years Team of the Education Achievement Service (EAS).
SUMMARY
List the 10 steps you consider were most important to the delivery of the project
1.Talking to teachers to find out what they actually need from a pack, in terms of curriculum links, LNF links, etc.
2.Working with teachers and Outdoor Learning Practitioners, so that a range of opinions can be heard, and best practice and experience shared.
3.Allowing enough time to actually write and EDIT the pack – supply cover and teacher time was key
4. Meeting with the headteachers. Although it was only a short slot in a large meeting, many appeared to go back to school and cascade the information down to the rest of the staff, encouraging them to use the pack and join the OLW group.
5. Having children to demonstrate the activities – this was much more worthwhile than simply telling teachers how to deliver an activity. They could see what was going on and how the children were responding.
6. Ensure that all the working party are working to the same hymn sheet – to start with everyone was working at a different level of detail. We decided that the best way to write the pack was as step-by-step as possible. Assume that those reading know nothing!
7. Attending the EYE meeting and presenting the pack to a huge number of teachers, from other authorities, spread the word across a wide area and raised the awareness of the OLW network – we gained a number of new members.
8. Spreading the resource pack through the OLW networks in other authorities –many teachers across Wales are now making use of it.
9.
10.

List any useful contacts – locally or nationally

Jen Summer, Early Years Team, Education Achievement Service
In your opinion, was the project successful? Please list any problems or advice that could be useful to another cluster trying to replicate the project. Is there anything you would have done differently? How did you measure the success and the benefits to Forest Education? (Q17)
Yes, very successful.
Do not underestimate the time this will take – allow plenty of supply cover! Also allow lots of time for editing – everyone will interpret things differently, so there needs to be a very clear, common agenda on how things will be written, how much detail etc, to save on lots of rewriting further down the line. Also different versions of Word do different things when it comes to fonts and layouts! Very frustrating... it will inevitably fall to one or two people to collate, edit and spend a lot of time faffing around with it – make sure there are people able to do this.
We know that the pack has been taken to at least 27 schools across Newport, with many more telling us that they have downloaded it. More than 27 Head’s attended the Head’s Forum, and over 150 teachers were at the EYE meeting. Potentially all of these have downloaded the pack (it would be really useful if the OLW website had some way of counting how many times the pack has been downloaded!).

Any other information/advice?

Please return this form to your national FEI co-ordinator by email or visit for contact details.

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) Where possible information provided will be made available on the website. If there is any part of the report you wish to keep confidential please make this clear.