DFSC 40th Anniversary Celebrations 2

On 20th September the Bristol Evening Post Newspaper did a nice double page spread with the headline - "Still great in the great outdoors". It featured colour photos of pupils from Ashton Gate Primary School and detailed some of the activities they undertook.

On 29th September Simon Partridge, teacher at Ashton Gate and pupil Luke were guests in the studio of BBC Radio Bristol. Ian Healey, Centre Manager of DFSC joined them on the phone and they were interviewed live by the radio presenter Ali Vowles. Ian talked about how later in the day we were celebrating our 40th Anniversary.

Then we had the big celebration itself:

We had a nice big cake with edible photo icing!

A great buffet prepared by our fantastic cooks Jane and Karen

The Lord Mayor of Bristol attended and cut the cake.

Guests toasted the Dean Field Studies Centre with Champagne.

Ian Healey, Centre Manager (2005 to present) on the left and Dick Butling , Warden/Manager 1978-1990(?) on right.

Ian with Line Manager Jan Pritchard and the Lord Mayor

 

The Lord Mayor then went down the Zip Wire in full robes!

Lots of other guests young and old also had a go

 

Guests were given a complimentary Anniversary Mug as a souvenir of the day. Afterall if it's good enough for the Queen....

 

It was an enjoyable day in which we celebrated the last 40 years and also looked forward to the next 40.

Dean Field Studies Centre 40th Anniversary Celebrations 1

 On 13th September 1972 the Dean Field Studies Centre was formally opened by Councillor C Draper, Chairman of the Bristol Education Committee. See the Log Book entry below:

Below are some archive photos from earlier times at the Centre

Students with caving equipment in 1978. The photo was developed and printed in the Centre's darkroom.

Student at Cannop Brook in 1979.

Students undertaking River Study 1979

Forest Walk 1979

Somervale School field sketching from roof of Land Rover Nov 82

Some things at the Centre haven't changed in forty years! We still go caving, do stream studies and forest walks. OK perhaps we don't do field sketching from the roofs of LandRovers anymore! These students are likely to be nearly 50 year olds now. Since the Centre opened 40 years ago we estimate that over 100,000 young people have been here. We wonder if some will have children or even grand children that have been to the Centre. Last week when we surveyed a group of 38 students from Elm Park Primary, 8 had a Mum or dad that had come to DFSC as a student.

If you came as a student and are now a grandparent with grandchildren who have been / are coming, we'd love to hear from you!

Classroom Redevelopment Part 1

For the past 40 years our classroom buildings have provided a place for our groups to be briefed, do work in the evenings such as diary writing etc. and house our Field Study Laboratory with microscopes as part of our Stream Study Exercise. For day visit groups they provide a base for welcome briefings, leaving bags, changing clothing, eating lunch etc. They are also regularly used by other groups for a variety of activities varying from first aid courses to meeting rooms for corporate development groups or even a toddler group.

BUT, let's face it they were getting a bit tired looking! In fact if we are honest they were a bit like stepping into a draughty old mobile classroom from the 1950's! Except they predate that even by a few years. They weren't our biggest selling point but just about did the job. Fortunately as our courses are mostly outdoor-based and our visitors have such a great time in so many other ways they forgave us for what we lacked in the way of suitable indoor learning environments.

The classrooms were beyond economic repair and maintenance and for the last few years we have done very little to them. However we knew we needed to do something so in August this year we demolished them!

This wasn't as straightforward as hoped as they contained asbestos that needed specialist removal - see photos below:

 

The rest of the buildings came down fairly easily!

We are now left with a big empty area where the classrooms once stood.

In the coming weeks this area will be filled by a new purpose built classroom building that will be suitable to meet our needs into the future.

We will keep you up-to-date with progress through photos on this blog over the next few weeks.

Bushcraft

Last week Dom and Ian went on  a 3-Day Bushcraft Course for Instructors. One of their first tasks was to build a 'debris'shelter to sleep in. It rained quite a bit and the shelters stayed dry!

The next task was to create fire by friction bow drill

 "I have created fire!"

Fresh water was available on the course but they also had a go at digging an 'Indian well' and then filtering the water through a pair of jeans.

"Better boil up that water just in case!"

Dom and Ian learnt a lot of Bushcraft skills on the course that they are now inspired and enthusiastic to share those skills with groups that visit the Centre. Bushcraft is a great activity to engage young people in the oudoors. It has it's own unique pace that provides absorbtion, concentration and committment. It is an excellent way to learn more about the natural environment and interact with it. DFSC is committed to developing bushcraft sessions into our outdoor learning activity programmes and plans to run them initially at cost only to get schools and other organisations inspired. Contact us if you're interested in giving it a go.

Forest Tots

For the past seven months we have been hosting an outdoor based Parent and Toddler Group in the Centre garden on Friday afternoons between 12:30 and 14:30. The group call themself Forest Tots and they base themselves completely outdoors whatever the weather. They seem to be lucky and it's only rained once when they have been here!

Their philosophy fits very comfortably with ours and is based around an ethos of allowing children to explore nature and experience the outdoors. They usually have one structured activity such as making mud monsters etc. but then allow the children to direct their own play as much as possible. The stream running into our pond always seems to be a popular draw and provides great natural waterplay. They've got waterproofs they can lend out and recommend a full change of clothing but believe getting wet is sometimes all part of the experience.

From a modest start with three families they have already expanded rapidly with up to 14 families attending at a time. The group is registered with PATA (Parent and Toddler Association) and is a 'flagship' group for the work they do outdoors. There are exciting potential plans for the future including the hope that we may be able to match fund them to have a Roundhouse Shelter built in the Centre Grounds that both our groups can use.

There's a link to the Forest Tots website here and on the right hand side where you can find out more about what they do if you're interested.

As most of our residential groups leave after lunch at about 13:30 we've sometimes been able to get involved as well. The above picture shows Dom extending his 'teaching range' to work with one year olds!

We think 'Forest Tots' are doing fantastic work and are pleased to be able to work in partnership with them and wish them every success in the future.

Disabled High Challenges

Well, the staff training paid off and our new converted paraglider harness worked well. We recently had a student stay with us who had cerebral palsy. The transfer from wheelchair to the adapted harness was much more straightforward than using a conventional full bodied harness and it also provided comfortable and protective support whilst still providing freedom for involuntary muscular movements.

 'J', our student, loved it and had 3 goes down the zip wire.

 'J' also got some altitude on the High Ropes Course and was ably assisted by his team mates who hauled him the whole way up - good teamwork. He then enjoyed a swing from lower down followed by some spinning. So action packed sensory experience was had.

During his 3-day stay 'J' went round the Sculpture Trail in his wheelchair, was involved with his team's problem solving challenges, shelter building and orienteering and gained a lot from the residential experience.

Staff Training for Work With Disabled Students

Well we picked a rather chilly day to do some staff training with our Instructors! The aim of the day was to try out different systems for enabling disabled students to go down the Zipwire and to also get high and have a swing on the Ropes Course.



After consultation with experts in the field and a bit of experimentation, we have adapted a paraglider harness to offer additional head support. Yes, if you look closely the head restraint is actually an adapted car booster seat! The result is we can offer a more comfortable experience for the profoundly disabled where a normal full body harness does not offer the necessary support and comfort.

 We then used a 10:1(?) hoisting system to be able to lift a person up high. Using this method one person can haul a person single handed. Once they are off the ground we can then also turn it into a giant swing!

We also experimented with the idea of using the whole group to pull a person up.

Heading back inside to warm up with a cup of tea we then had useful discussions about various other techniques, risk assessments and ways of working with students on all the other High Challenges we offer.