Carcant/forest schools
- Our place in the country
Many of you will have heard us speaking
or asking if we can take your child to Carcant
for the day but we have realised that some
of you are new parents and even well established
parents might not know what it is or what
we do there.
Firstly, Carcant is a valley near Heriot
in the Borders about 20 miles outside Edinburgh.
We are lucky enough to have access to a
loft flat there with a kitchen, bathroom
and sitting room as well as a number of
bedrooms and to be able to use the whole
valley to explore with the children. We have started to establish the site
has a forest school, where children become
familiar with the surrounding area over
a period of time, where they can explore
the natural environment and decide on projects
and carry them out such as building a shelter.
This over time gives them a sense of ownership
and responsibility for the environment.
Forest schools originated in Denmark and
have become one of the best education systems
in the world. Although they have far harsher
winters, the Danes saw the importance of
children learning from the environment as
well as the class room. They learn to problem
solve, cooperate and develop a sense of
safety and well being which is easier to
accomplish outdoors in the wild rather than
in the class room. Over the last couple
of months the chldren who have been out
there have enjoyed making a shelter out
of natural resources, exploring leaves and
plants, identifying the hundreds of different
shades of colour in their surroundings using
paint sample cards and orienteering using
photographs to recognise different buildings
or features of the valley. There is also
a farmer who cares for the sheep in the
valley and breeds sheep dogs so we are hoping
to develop a project about this and how
the dogs develop their skills.
We have now stepped up our visits to Carcant
and plan to continue to do so in the coming
months as this fits in very well with the
new Curriculum of Excellence and eco schools.
So if your child
ever tells you "there's no such thing
as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing",
blame the Danes, not us.
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