Decorating

We have just had a very rare week without a residential group staying. This is extremely infrequent and we don't have another such term time week free before January next year. In fact we're nearly completely booked up until August 2013. So when we do get such a week we make the most of it to do things we can't do when we have guests.

 We've always aimed to make the Lounge a warm and friendly place that is somewhat homely and it's always be decorated with that in mind. But gone is the orange theme seen in the photo on the left and instead staff have been busy decorating to give it a more 'contemporary look'.

We now have a 'Toasted Beige' bottom with a 'Seashell' upper to the walls. The curtains are in the prossess of being replaced by blinds and decorative pelmets. And some colour themed artwork now complements it  for the homely feel.

The DFSC staff are displaying their supressed interior-designer personas and it's a bit like 'Changing Rooms' here.

The finished look below:

We have also had some plastering work done in the dining room and the kitchen staff have redecorated the whole of this room as well. I'm sure they have carried out a dynamic risk assessment to determine that tables are safer than step ladders! And don't worry they'll be well washed down - they want to keep their 5 stars award for food hygiene!

 

We hope our guests like the fresh new decor. In the last two years we've more-or-less decorated the entire house from top to bottom.

Planning for Disabled Canoeing

We have taken wheelchair users canoeing several times in the past and have always managed with manual handling to lift them either directly into the canoe or into their wheelchair secured inside the canoe. We have carefully risk assessed techniques and procedures for managing such sessions but have recently reviewed these to take account of using our new mobile hoist. This now allows us to safely lift heavier and less mobile disabled students into and out of a canoe. We have been practicing the techniques required ready for running a canoeing session with a disabled student in March.

Generally taster sessions with disabled students are done with them comfortably and stably sat in a rafted canoe surrounded by beanbags and cushions to provide the necessary support. This still allows them to use a paddle if they can and means they are not dangerously secured into the boat in the extremely unlikely event of a capsize. It is more-or-less impossible to capsize a rafted canoe on sheltered inland water. If you want to find out more about canoeing with disabled students e-mail the Centre Manager and ask for a copy of our information sheet on 'Canoeing With Disabled Students'

First Aid in the Outdoors

We have again this January hosted our annual First Aid in the Outdoors Course. This is an intensive 18+ hour training course in First Aid that takes casualty care beyond the first 30 mins and looks at how first aiders might care for a casualty in a remote outdoor environment when medical care is potentially several hours away. This year 20 candidates, mostly teachers, practiced the basics of diagnosis, bandaging,

resuscitation etc. inside and then we went outside to try it in a 'real' context.

To make things even more realistic we had a make-up expert create life-like wounds and then scenarios were set up outside with 3 casualties at a time. The first aiders needed to make triage decisions and then treat each casualty for their injuries. 

The three trainers include a retired SW Amulance Superintendent with 40 years experience and another with experience as the team leader of a Mountain Rescue Team. Anecdotal discussion and lectures in topics such as hypothermia, diabetes, asthma and heart conditions etc. all increase the candidates knowledge of how to care for different ailments. At the end of the course all candidates were independently assessed by external examiners and due to their excellent training all passed! The course is approved by the BCU and recognised by UKMLTB and is valid for 3 years. If you are interested in doing next January's course give us a call. 



Contacting The Dark Side of the Moon!

Our guests soon discover on their first visit here that they won't be disturbed by their mobile phone going off. In terms of mobile phone reception we are on the 'dark side of the moon' and their is no network coverage in the building and it is necessary to go at least half a mile to get a signal. This is often viewed positively by visiting teachers as it means students won't be texting and social networking online in the middle of the night etc. The 'digital divide' helps preserve some of the values and behaviours of the past and students spend time talking to one another face to face and even interacting through traditional board games etc. We do have a payphone available, that also takes incoming calls, if it becomes appropriate to phone home, but this is often discouraged by visiting staff.

Until now we have also not had internet availability for visiting staff outside office hours. This however has now changed. I am pleased to announce that we have now installed a dedicated computer in the lounge by the 'visiting staff corner' which has internet capability. You will be able to update the school website with photos etc. in the evenings and check e-mail as required. We hope to in the future to connect it to an interactive whiteboard allowing it to also be used as a teaching resource. Of course if you want to continue to escape computers and social networking etc. for a week then you can always leave it switched off! Continue telling people you are in the Forest of Dean - on 'the dark side of the moon!' Other than this blog post we won't tell them you're now contactable!

Another LOTC Champion!

Well, following straight on from our last blog post we have today celebrated another teacher's thirtieth year of visiting the Centre! She has similarly been bringing groups up to two or three times a year for three decades and in fact now has students coming to the Centre who are children of parents who came as students with her! Another champion of Learning Outside the Classroom (LOTC) and someone who sees and believes in the benefits of the residential experience and how much it can influence the lives of students.

Marking a Huge Achievement - a champion of Outdoor Learning

 The Centre Manager on the right making a presentation to a 'champion' of Outdoor Education

Today we said farewell to a teacher who has been bringing groups to The Dean Field Studies Centre for 32 years! We estimate he has spent nearly a year of his life at the Centre! On some of those 32 years he came for 4 or 5 weeks a year. He has done many INSET courses at the Centre over the years and it has had a huge influence on his career and personal pastimes.

This teacher in many ways embodies the values and benefits of outdoor learning. He started as a young teacher coming to the centre and attending courses such as Mountain Leader Training and Climbing Instructor courses and has since beeen awarded the highest level of leader qualifications in these outdoor activities. Over the years he has gone on to train up many other teachers and leaders in hill walking and rock climbing. At the end of the academic year he retires from his position of Head of Geography and Outdoor Education at a large secondary school.

As he will no longer be bringing students from the school to the Centre, we thought we should mark the occasion and presented him with a book and framed photo of the Centre as a reminder of the good times he has had here over the years. We hope and expect he will still be back to visit us in future years.

The school still continues its long association with the Centre and have another 300 pupils booked in next December for a series of 5 intense 3-day courses during which the entire Yr8 visit the Centre. The middle day of the course is particularly action packed as we manage to fit 6 activities in during the day followed by Christmas Dinner and then a night exercise in the Forest. We estimate that around 8,000 students from the school have benefited from these residential courses in the last 32 years and much of that is owing to the vision, dedication and enthusiasm of one man.

We hope that ‘Deanfield’ continues to inspire ‘champions’ of outdoor learning into the future.

Outdoor Learning Cards, 'Forest School' Activities and doing it at school

In recent years 'Forest Schools' has become a popular and successful way to work with children in the outdoors and particularly with Key Stage 1 pupils. Similar to Outdoor Learning generally it has been proven to engage children and have a positive affect on their relationships and their work back in the classroom. It is of course nothing new - we've been doing Forest School style activities at DFSC for the last 39 years and many schools have similarly made good use of their School grounds and surrounding locality to do Forest Schools style activities for many years.

Ian Healey the Centre Manager of DFSC is also the Oudoor Education Advisor for Bristol CC and is very positive about encouraging schools to do their own outdoor learning at school. He sees the courses that we provide at DFSC as being a progression to all sorts of great outdoor learning that children can already be doing with their school. We can provide the technical expertise and equipment to lead more adventurous outdoor activities such as climbing and canoeing and of course provide the residential experience that is so valuable in itself, but Ian believes that being outside and engaging with the natural environment should be an expectation and right for all children every week of their school careers.

For the last two years Ian has gone into schools and delivered training in the OEAP Outdoor Learning Cards (OLC) which is an intensive one day course providing teachers and youth leaders with the skills and confidence to lead outdoor activity sessions based around Team Building, Journeying, Orienteering and Bouldering.

The OLC course has always been very well received by schools and has received feedback such as “Inspirational, active learning. All staff should experience this.” However, Ian is keen that such learning and inspiration can be cascaded to other staff and that it is not a prerequisite that everyone needs to have attended a training course before delivering outdoor learning. Similarly you do not need to be a Forest Schools Leader Level 3, for example, to deliver Forest schools style activities to a group of children.

Although Ian is a qualified teacher and has worked professionally in Outdoor Education for over twenty years he is not a Forest Schools Leader and has not worked with Key Stage 1 before. So when he was recently invited into a school to work outdoors with a reception and Yr1 class he felt he was no more equipped to do so than the class teacher and TA's he worked with. He did however have a great morning and thinks the children enjoyed it as much as he did.

 He started the session by reading a picture storybook called "Water Witcher" about a boy living in Australia who looks for water for his family by water divining, as his Grandfather had done before him. Despite the teasing of his sisters the boy then digs a small well and finds water. Ian then asked the children "who wanted to go water witching and digging wells?" and received an enthusiastic response. So welly boots on and off they all went into the nearby woods.

Everyone had a go at water witching with a forked stick and then lots of muddy fun was had digging wells in a ditch. The class also went for a walk, ate wood sorrell, caught falling Autumn leaves and made wishes, found acorns, saw squirrells and generally had a great time being outdoors.

Ian says he would be very happy to do this type of work with schools again but can't see any reason why they can't do it themselves. You don't need anymore qualification than common sense and some enthusiasm to get children learning outdoors. Ian is always willing to talk to teachers and Heads in his capacity as an Outdoor Education Advisor and offer ideas about how they can incorporate more outdoor learning into the curriculum.