General Update

Do you remember the heatwave during the Summer 2013? Our wildflower meadow roof turned to hay. It provided 5 bags of hay for Debbie's Guinea Pigs but we did wonder if the grass and flowers would ever grow back.

Well it's looking nice and green again now and is even growing mushrooms!

As this Blog shows, we are constantly developing things at DFSC and getting new things for our groups to have and use. We always ask for feedback and ideas at the end of a course from teachers and leaders but we've now installed a Suggestions Box in the entrance lobby that students can also add ideas to.

We look forward to hearing their suggestions and have already implemented one - buying a digital thermometer for staff to use when they suspect a child may have developed a temperature.

Please let us know if you have any good ideas to make a popular activity programmes or comfortable residential accommodation etc. even better.

The Dean Garden Room Hosts Macmillan Cancer Support Coffee Morning

Our fantastic DFSC Centre Cooks, Jane, Karen & Nicky have this morning made a huge effort for Macmillan Cancer Support

They ran a Coffee and Cake morning at The Dean Garden Room (our wonderful new classroom building) as part of Macmillan's 'World's Biggest Coffee Morning'. 

With Tombola and raffle + further cake sales locally they raised an amazing £900 for this very worthwhile charity! Last year a record £15 million was raised for Macmillan with coffee mornings around the country.

We Love it When the Sun Shines!

Being on Outdoor Learning Centre we love it when the sun shines as our groups enjoy being outside in good weather. We now have even more reason to love it as we have just had 4 kWp Photo Voltaic Array installed on the roof of the Main Centre Building.

In under a week of use we've generated 50kWh of energy. Projected figures are that we should avoid 2,937 kg of CO2 emissions each year. Let's hope for lots more sunshine!

Tunnels at DFSC

Ian Healey, The Centre Manager, is a keen caver and has been leading groups of young people caving for over 20 years.

His experience tells him that many children really enjoy the tighter more challenging parts of a cave! This is in-spite of the expectations of their teachers! Ian regularly leads groups in Clearwell Caves and a popular an memorable part of the cave for many students is the 'Polo Hole', pictured above.

For a while we have had an old drainage pipe in the centre garden that has been used for problem solving challenges and it becomes a magnet to children to investigate. Above are two 2 year-olds from Forest Tots who have decided to go through it.

 The plans for the new classroom left a small area of land next to the building blank. Yes, it could have just been laid to lawn but we had a much better idea!

"What if we bought a load of pipes and constructed an underground tunnel maze!?" "We better make a plan!"

"Right let's buy some pipes". "We need some people to move them!" "Well, we've got lots of DFSC staff"

"We'll make construction workers out of them yet! Here we go walking down the road with one of the big pipes and the Centre building in the background."

 "I know lets use rainwater harvesting tanks as junctions between the tunnels!" "Yes, and we could start in a shed with 4 different tunnels heading out of it!"

"We'll need somebody with a digger and a dumper truck"

"What about putting one tunnel under the deck and another one sliding down on to the lawn?!"

This project is well under way and should be ready for the first groups to use next term. The construction phase has raised a lot of interest from visiting groups who are now looking forward to using it on their next visit. We think it will make an excellent new activity that combines team work, personal challenge, communication and  problem solving. We'll be setting a variety of challenges which  will include orienteering, mapping and transporting objects. We look forward to telling you more about the Tunnels in the future once they are being used. 

Summer is here

Summer is definitely here with temperatures up to 29 degrees Centigrade today. The Pond Cabin Laboratory is hidden in the foilage and staying nice and cool over the pond.

The dragonflies are darting about the pond reeds.

The wild flower meadow on the roof of the Dean Garden Room is wafting gently in the breeze and attracting it's own collection of insect life.

There are many different varieties of wild flower growing. The grass will soon need a cut and we will then let it lie like hay on the roof to allow any wild flower seeds to disperse before then clearing the grass off. Removing the grass prevents too much nutrient build up in what should be a fairly poor soil. Cutting the grass a couple of times replicates grazing and prevents the grass out competing the wild flowers.

The living roof of the roundhouse is also looking good but we don't plan to cut it.

A wren has made a nest in the outside of the wall under the eaves. See red circle on photo below. 4 chicks are busily being fed by the parents and look about to fledge.

Opening Ceremony for The Dean Garden Room

Now that our fantastic new building is completed we couldn't let things pass without a celebratory event. So we put out the bunting and the Lord Mayor of Bristol kindly agreed to formally open it.

The Lord Mayor, Councillor Peter Main, unveiled The Dean Garden Room and then presented souvenirs to specially invited pupils from some of the schools that have visited over the last few months.

After this our 80+ guests all enjoyed a buffet lunch out on the deck. We were glad we'd had the canopy built when it sheltered us from a shower of rain.

Many of our guests then decided to have a go on our Zip Wire

Including The Lord Mayor in his Robes!

Some of our younger guests also had a go at a few of our other High Challenges. The sun came out and an enjoyable afternoon was had by all.

The Dean Garden Room & Pond Cabin

Well the new classroom and lab buildings are now finished and we're looking forward to their formal opening on 11th May when the Lord Mayor of Bristol will be opening them with many invited guests. We didn't want to simply call them the classroom and lab as we expect a variety of user groups to enjoy using them ranging from parent and toddler groups to corporate training groups and even wedding parties.

With that in mind we would like to introduce you to "The Dean Garden Room" above. It is a beautiful timber construction with many eco features including low energy use and a wildflower meadow roof. Natural lighting is provided by large bifolding doors and roof lights and heating is from a fully automated wood pellet boiler system providing renewable energy heating from sustainable sources.

The roof terrace above allows students to view the living roof and the habitats it provides. It will be part of a series of orientation activities that allow students to learn about the sustainable features of the buildings and their place within the environment. The panoramic views of the village and Centre gardens are even better than we expected and no doubt it won't be long before a small group choose to have their picnic lunch up there! We'll certainly look to Blog the first bride and groom wedding photo!

Inside the building we have created a comfortable meeting area at one end. Later this will be separated from the main part of the building by a retractable partition once the timbers have settled and this can be installed.

The building of course has a disabled toilet but we've also included a shower and baby change table to cater for the possible varied use of the building.

We've decided the kitchen is better than most of our kitchens at home! You can certainly make a couple of tea easily enough but we think it is spacious enough to provide catering for an evening group and also use as a bar serving area.

The picnic tables on the deck under the canopy have just been used for the first time by our resident group who enjoyed their lunch there.

"Pond Cabin" is our wonderful new laboratory poised on stilts over the pond. It has already been well received by several groups of students doing their stream studies. The wet room floor makes it easy to wash any sploshed out welly-water down the central drain hole!

Inside it is surprisingly spacious and when be using by some users will make an excellent 'break out room' for group work for up to 20 people. We will be able to put our microscopes and charts etc. away in the built in cupboards and provide a meeting room with a difference.

We particularly like the design and shape of the ceiling.

The views out of the window aren't bad either and the pond has now got a resident pair of ducks who have taken up residence.