Lindley Educational Trust
Festival of outdoor learning

Annual Festival of Outdoor Learning 03-04 March 2012

A Great CPD Opportunity for Outdoor Professionals, Teachers, Youth Workers and Anyone With A General Interest In The Outdoors

Only £70 for the whole weekend - includes 4 workshops, 2 nights accommodation and meals during the the event
We have a great line up of workshops already confirmed

Saturday Workshops

Sunday Workshops

Previous quotes

“Talking about things like this (spirituality) in public is more challenging to me than the thought of climbing Everest”

“It (the workshop) brought me a greater understanding of Facilitation and some new tools”

“I just want to say thank you to Harvey, I think you’ve saved my marriage in the workshop this morning”

Booking Details

Download a [PDF] booking form or a [.doc] booking form

To book your place please return your form to the Hollowford Centre;
tel 01433 620 377
email enquiries@hollowford.org

Gang Interventions - Julia Wolton

The Brathay Intervention Leadership programme targets young people who are involved in gangs, at risk of becoming involved in a gang, or gang affected. The work is targeted at 'crews' rather than individuals and engages with young people who are actively involved in gang culture who have often not yet become involved in the criminal justice system

What impact does gang culture have on young people today?
Are the people on your programmes connected with gang activity?
How can we support young people at risk from gang culture?

Julia is the London-based Regional Development Manager, and the person who's been at the heart of Brathay's activities and successes in terms of working with young people who are involved in gangs

Ancient Technologies: Pump & Hand Drills - Dave Watson

Take a look at some of the lesser-known methods of drilling and fire lighting. Pump Drills are a fascinating way of drilling and can be applied to both fire lighting and making simple pendants. The hand drill is one of the most basic/primitive methods of fire lighting yet often unused as it often appears too daunting. We will look at both the key techniques as well as how to consider using this method with groups.

Ancient Technologies: Advanced Shelter Building

We will be looking at how to make some great additions to your shelter. Self closing doors as well as porches. On top of this we shall be looking at recliner chairs and fancy pot holders. Many of the ideas in this session can also be found in Dave’s recently published booklet

www.woodlandsurvivalcrafts.com

Story Walks - Gordon MacLellan, Creeping Toad

Quick activities with minimal resources to use to create your own adventures: activities that will bounce a group through the stages of a story, creating tales shaped by the landscapes they are walking through and the wildlife they meet

Wild Books

Simple book-building activities combining quick art activities with paper-making, writing and reflection to allow people to make their own personal records of adventures, discoveries and inspirations

creepingtoad.org.uk

Behavioral Safety. Being thrilled, challenged, inspired and feeling a bit (or a lot) scared AND being safe - Damian Hall

We all believe safety (being healthy and well and not being hurt) is really important don't we? So exactly why does it suffer from such dreadful stereotypes? And how do these stereotypes affect our behaviour and the behaviour of our clients. This session explores the true reasons for accidents and injury and how we can change our and others behaviour to avoid unhappy events.

Will look at principles of underlying psychology, attitudes and perceptions. Root causes of human failure and subjectivity, filtering and selectivity

Group Dynamics - Dave Baines & Harvey Downey

An interactive workshop exploring the dynamics of working with and inside groups, covering themes such as

Formal and Informal Structures and Cultures with personality and behaviour
Facilitation and Training interventions
Interventions and interactions with groups
Dynamics within Groups Conformity Core & Conscience
Survival, Supporting & Scapegoating
Behaviours of groups
Relationships, & power within groups
Participants own agendas

Dave has many years of experience working with a range of groups in a variety of environments. Harvey is a widely experienced facilitator of many years. They have been kind enough to run workshops at the last few festivals (which have been well attended and generated some very positive feedback) and are often seen as having a 'fresh take' on things.

Pottery In The Outdoors - Gill Jones

Bringing art, science and history to life in the outdoors, making and firing pottery is a brilliant activity.

This activity requires remarkably little by way of materials and provides a rich learning opportunity for all ages combining craft, history, and bushcraft it also creates the chance to discuss many other learning areas.

During this session you will make some simple items, build a wood kiln and fire the pottery overnight on an open fire. In the morning, raking through the embers to retrieve your pottery, discover how early man must have felt.

Natural Music Making - Alex Hampson

Environmental educator, bush-craft expert and didgeridoo player (or pretty much any section of tube or pipe he can find) Alex will have you making and playing didgeridoo's and thinking about weaving new strands into your session in no time.

Alex is the Director and founder of Wild Earth and has been teaching Environmental Education, Bushcraft and Didgeridoo for over 12 years. In this workshop we will listen to the awe inspiring sound of this incredible instrument and learn to play, make and paint a recycled didgeridoo to take home. We will explore its Aboriginal Australian origins and how this is linked to bushcraft and living off the land. Having explored our own relationship with nature in a short exercise we will get creative with our own nature based Aboriginal style art work. We will invite you to join us in a music workshop session around the fire in the evening which will combine your new found skill within a percussion workshop using nature based instruments from around the world. Alex combines a mix of Aboriginal Australian history, music, culture, bushcraft and earth education to develop our own relationship with nature in this exciting workshop.

www.facebook.com/wildearthuk

Dark Sky - Dan Hillier

Dan works at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh and has been closely involved in the Dark Sky project in Scotland; he is now being instrumental in the extension of this project throughout the UK

In this workshop he will :-

Extend and enhance you knowledge of the night sky
Give you free tools to help you (and the groups you work with) understand what you are looking at
Introduce you to the latest web based resources
Look at ways of developing a sense of scale & perspective
Look at current technology
Provide straight forward information cards for groups of all ages

Dark Sky Scotland

Outdoor Photography - Alex Ekins

Photographer and photojournalist specialising in Rock-climbing, mountaineering, international adventure travel, documentary outdoor and architectural images. Alex studied Photojournalism at the legendary Sheffield College. His work has been published in print Worldwide including Le Monde, El Pais, Climber, The Rough Guide to Ultimate Adventures, The Times, The Independent, The Guardian, The Economist, The Observer and National Geographic Adventure.

Alex is also a mountaineering instructor and expedition leader.

alexekins.co.uk

Earth Walks and creative ways to use them - Sarah Wilks

Earth walk activities are a great way to experience the richness and wonders of the natural world. It is a light refreshing way to enjoy nature with the emphasis on awakening individual senses and sharpening perception. These are often put together to form a walk, but can also be used alone to help group management, or encourage people to slow down and appreciate the landscape they are in. The activities do not need to be set up beforehand; they are all done from props you can carry with you. In the workshop we will complete an earth walk and consider how the activities can be adapted to suit the work you do.

Sarah Wilks, Peak District National Park

Expanding Your Toolbox. Sharing Ways to Optimize Learning on Personal Development Courses - Kate O'Brien & Elaine Hibbs

As practitioners we all have our favourite ways to get people thinking about the various outcomes our courses aim to develop. Whether you are new to working with people in outdoor learning, or have been doing it for years we all have useful tools to share. This workshop aims to discuss some of these tools, what we use them for and how they enhance our practice. Some common themes we work with and will be considering are the following:

Taking on new challenges
Working effectively with others
Positivity (Mindsets)
Transfer - What does this mean in real life?

We will share some of our favourite ways to approach these themes, using various methods such as storytelling, creative reflection, particular review formats and will also share some resources we use in our work

WHAT WE ASK FROM YOU: Please come with one idea to share with the group relating to how you would approach one of the above themes. In 5 - 10 minutes tell us who you would use it with (e.g. specific age or client type?) When you would use it (e.g. before/during/after a specific activity, particular point in the course?) and how it works. If it is a practical thing it would be great if we could do it as a group during the workshop. We will have a variety of resources such as flipchart paper, pens, ropes, balls and indoor and outdoor space, if you require anything specific please bring it with you.

We will collate all the ideas shared so that by the end in exchange for your sharing you will go away with a great resource of lots of new things to try out with your groups.

Kate O'Brien and Elaine Hibbs - We have worked at various centres in the UK and abroad, as well as doing other youth development work. We currently work for the Outward Bound Trust providing personal development courses predominantly for young people aged 10 - 18.

Philosophy Within The Outdoors - Frag Last

As outdoor practitioners we all spend a great deal of our time 'Outdoors'. But what does this really mean and how do we really 'feel' about it? This workshop will look at certain aspects of philosophy (both eastern and western) and apply them to the outdoor environment. A constructive view of who and what we are within the big scheme of things. How and why we interpret our surroundings in the way we do, from an historical and socially constructed viewpoint. We shall also look at ways in which we interact with our surroundings from both 'within' and 'without'.

A thought provoking journey through pre-history to the present whilst doing battle with assumption and acceptance - that will hopefully lead somewhere towards a form of 'enlightenment'. Or not!

The Wider Environment - Nick Smith

Take a trip up to Burbage Moor with Nick Smith of the Moors for the Future Partnership to learn about the habitat and landscape.

Many of us take groups out to this area (or similar) to run sessions involving things such as orienteering, rock climbing, rock hopping or weaselling without the answers to questions from group members such as "What's that?" "Why is this here?" "How long has it been like this?"

Nick will not only answer such questions but give you the means to answer them for yourselves in an informative and interactive outdoor session.

Environmental Learning Made Easy - Jim Langley

This workshop will introduce you to the use of the new Environmental Learning Cards produced by the Outdoor Education Advisors Panel. They have been designed to give staff and young people an introduction to Discovering, Exploring, Sharing and Sustaining the Natural Environment. The Cards offer a range of activities that are of great value in themselves, but also provide the opportunity to support and add value to on-going programmes of learning. The Environmental Cards will support learning across the whole curriculum, encourage working together, promote positive attitudes to the natural environment and an understanding of a young person’s place within it. All the activities can be delivered in school or centre grounds, parks, nature reserves or other suitable open spaces, requiring no specialist facilities

Jim Langley Nature's Work

Lindley Educational Trust Festival of Outdoor Learning

Spirituality & Outdoor Learning - Dan Whittaker LPIOL

Exploring what spirituality in Outdoor Learning means to you and others. Practical exercises that Leaders can use with their groups to explore this field. Discussion about the work of SOLSIG (the Institute of Outdoor Learning Special Interest Group) and the crucial importance of addressing this area in our work.

Dan is a Teacher of Outdoor Learning in a Local Authority Centre where he currently delivers across a broad spectrum of outdoor learning. Whilst Chairing the Midlands IOL region, Dan organised a National Workshop, in partnership with the Wrekin Trust & IOL. This focussed on Spirituality in Outdoor Learning. Dan is currently chairing the IOL special interest group in this field. The group's aim is to encourage practitioners to feel comfortable in raising matters of well being, re-connection and values with their groups.

IOL Spirituality in Outdoor Learning Group

Trainer In a Rucksack - Sam Moore, Totem Development

We've all been there, a delayed minibus pick up, a bored group at lunch or an excitable group at a wild campsite with nothing to do before bedtime. The aim of this workshop is to give you a collection of games, activities and review techniques that can help you keep your group engaged using nothing more than the contents of a rucksack

www.totemdevelopment.co.uk

Throwing Arrows, Make and Play - Ian Cresswell

A session looking at the selection of suitable materials, utilising appropriate tools and techniques to make a variety of toys for the outdoors.

Followed by a time of play with a focus on managing safety and exploring the benefits this process may bring to students.

www.lonescoutbushcraft.co.uk

Improve Your Forward Paddling - John Handyside

National Competition Development Coach for Canoe England, an ex-international paddler in all the racing disciplines of Paddlesport in both canoe and kayak. John has also coached at international level in those disciplines as well.

We all need to forward paddle, (if you don't you are probably a rower) and we all need to work on improving our forward paddling both from a personal need, less strokes per mile, winning a race, demonstrating when coaching, for added speed to get between the slalom gates, get to the polo ball first, to reach the wave/hole before performing tricks...This workshop was designed to be targeted at everyone who forward paddles a kayak at whatever level or paddlesport discipline you are into.

There will be two workshops, one each side of lunch on Sunday. One will focus on Kayak Paddling and the other on Canoe Paddling, they will be a mixture of inside and outside

Booking