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Green Shoots News: 2008

You can read more about the Green Shoots programme on the main Green Shoots page. This page gives you a flavour for what we did in 2008. You can also read news from 2006 and 2007, and the current year.

Forest School at Broughton High School

The winter months of October to February saw 7 young people from Broughton High School brave the frosty conditions to complete a 12-week Forest School programme. Kindly supported again by the Pentland Hills Ranger Service the Forest School was based in Sanctuary Wood at Bonaly, where each week the pupils undertook a variety of conservation tasks. Improvements to the Country Park were made such as digging new drainage ditches, repairing steps, cutting and burning gorse and laurel, and re-staking trees at the reservoir.

It wasn’t all hard work though, there was also plenty of opportunity for the young people to explore their woodland home. The group constructed a 5 star tepee style shelter, gained valuable map work skills through orienteering and hill walking, built a fire site complete with benches, learnt how to use knives to carve safely, and acquired outdoor cooking skills that even Gordon Ramsay would be proud of!

Of course there were also chances to play exploratory games such nightline, scavenger hunt and hide ‘n’ seek, with ‘Kick the Can’ becoming a regular favourite!

The hard work undertaken by the group was rewarded by two outdoor education ‘treat’ sessions, one to Hillend Ski Centre, where after a lung busting hill walk the group pulled some funky moves learning how to snowboard, and the second to Fordell Firs Activity Centre in Fife, where in torrential rain the group threw themselves fully into the challenge course, tunnelling and archery sessions.

The programme was wrapped up with a celebration of everyone’s achievements back at Broughton High School, where each participant was presented with a positive letter of referral, a John Muir Discovery Award and the Service section of the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.

Huge thanks once again are extended to all the agencies (Broughton High School Behaviour Support Link, Forest Education Initiative, Pentland Hills Ranger Service and Green Team volunteers) that supported the programme to make it such a great success!

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Forest School, Firhill High School

February saw the start of another successful 12 week Forest School programme, with six S3 pupils from Firhill High School attended weekly sessions at Sanctuary Wood. The programme was extremely well supported by the school, with two members of staff, Paul Chambers and Paul Bullik, alternately supporting the pupils out on morning and afternoon sessions.

Despite some pretty grim weather the group got stuck into the routine of each day. After a warm up game sessions began with a conservation task with substantial work being undertaken to cut back and burn old gorse bushes and repair some subsiding paths. Further work was undertaken checking the orienteering course.

Knot & knife work skills and building survival shelters featured heavily in the early stages of the programme. In addition to learning new forest skills and exploring the environment through a variety of games, the group also participated in a range of activities to meet the challenges of the ASDAN awards. In the lead up to the mid-term break activities included interviewing a Ranger and learning how to use an Ordnance survey map.

A trip to Fordell Firs to participate in the challenges of the low ropes course and the archery field proved to be popular, and helped the group to work together in a supportive and encouraging manner.

After the mid-term break work began in earnest on an ambitious ‘Nissan hut’ style group shelter. The group learned new skills in felling, axing and weaving and applied previous skills in knot tying to build a 5 star shelter!

Further work towards the ASDAN awards was undertaken, with the group completing an environmental survey of Sanctuary Wood, learning new skills in first aid and applying their practical knowledge to the building of their own bird boxes. The nearby toilet block was also given a new lease of life with a lick of paint, invading sycamores were thinned out and old tree guards were removed from saplings at the reservoir.

The group’s hard work did not end there. As always cooking on the group fire was an integral part of each day, with chocolate pancakes being one memorable highlight. Of course there was also opportunity to explore the environment through a variety of games and as always tracking and hide n’ seek style activities were firm favourites.

After each session the group met back in school to reflect upon the session and created a weekly blog where they posted their experiences.

The group’s commitment to the programme was rewarded with a morning’s raft building, followed by a trip to explore the coast at Gullane beach. The group did a great job of building a sea worthy craft and put to good use all the knots they had learned in the forest earlier in the term.

The final celebration was well attended by family, support staff and several distinguished guests, including Robin Harper MSP, who was impressed at the tasks and challenges undertaken by each individual.
Perhaps the clearest indication of the journey made by the group came from Marley, who on the last session said, “12 weeks ago I never thought I would be sitting in a forest with dirty hands and enjoy it! Thank you for encouraging me to stick with it!”

Referral Programme

Following on from the success of Green Shoot’s initial referral programme, two further programme’s were run in Autumn and Spring, and were once again opened up to young people across the city who were experiencing difficulties in school.

The emphasis of the programme was very much on providing participants with opportunities to succeed, developing personal responsibility and teamwork skills, improving communication, engaging individuals in conservation work and encouraging the development of meaningful relationships with the environment.

Both groups of 8 young people undertook a range of challenging conservation tasks in a variety of different locations. In addition to the introductory Rhodie bashing session at Vogrie Country Park, the autumn group participated in a beach clean up at Gosford Bay, thinned trees and removed old rabbit fencing at Capielaw woods, burnt back invading gorse in the Pentlands and planted some traditional hedgerow in Roslin Glen. In return for designing and building a shelter for use during BBQ’s at Fordell Firs activity centre, the group earned the chance to try their sharp shooting skills at archery.

The third referral group kicked off in the New Year and saw the group get stuck into a similar range of challenging tasks. Some sterling path work was undertaken at Vogrie and a further beach clean up in East Lothian provided the group with some strange finds, including a mini moto! Further hedge planting took place at Roslin Glen and the Pentland Hills benefited from some hard graft to remove more invading gorse bushes.

Again the group’s hard work was rewarded by an outdoor education session, this time with a trip to Ratho Adventure Centre, where participants pushed their own personal boundaries to scale the dizzy heights of the world’s largest indoor climbing arena!

In addition to conservation work, each group participated in reflective and exploratory environmental activities, and spent time journaling their experiences as part of their John Muir Award. Knife work, tracking games and cooking gastronomical delights, such as cheesy tortillas, eggy bread, pancakes and sausages were other highlights of the course.

The final celebration day for each group was well attended by supporting workers, parents and family members. It was extremely rewarding to present each participant with their positive letter of referral, John Muir Discovery Award, Service section of their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award and personalised photo frame of their journey on the course.

Once again Green Shoots would like to extend their thanks for the invaluable support given by each agency and worker who encouraged and enabled each individual to attend the course. Further thanks also go to volunteer Kim McIntosh, whose energy and experience contributed hugely to the success of both programmes.

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Advanced Programme

In October 2007 Penny Radway secured funding through the Laidlaw Trust for Green Shoots to continue working with disadvantaged and socially isolated young people throughout Edinburgh. Green Shoots Manager and Project Coordinator Kate Hedges, saw the importance of being able to work with participants on a long term basis in order to be able to effect meaningful and positive change in their lives. Thus the Advanced programme was born.

Through a series of “Re-Connection’ days, individuals who had previously participated in either the Referral programmes or Forest Schools were invited to attend a series of one day sessions. These days were designed to push participants in both conservation work and personal social skills. Not only were the tasks more challenging, such as erecting seating perches at Gore Glen, but individuals also had to deal with the challenge of meeting new people they had not previously worked with. Those young people that showed the greatest potential and stood to gain the most from further involvement were chosen to participate in the Advanced programme.

Over the next 5 months 8 young people will be involved in a challenging personal development programme designed to encourage personal responsibility and leadership skills, through both local conservation days and challenging residential trips further afield.

The group will be given the opportunity to experience wild camping at Roeburn Wood near Helensburgh, before undertaking work at National Trust property on Arran. A 3-day expedition to the Cairngorms will push participants to become more self-sufficient whilst providing them the opportunity to experience the beauty of the wild mountains. A final residential will take place again once more at Roeburn Wood, where individuals will be offered the chance to put all their skills into practice by participating in a solo overnight camp.

We will be providing you with regular updates on the progress of the group so check back here to find out how our adventurers are getting on!

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GYC Transition Group – May ‘08

The summer saw the annual venture of partnering up with the Granton Youth Centre to provide a programme of transitional work for pupils requiring support to make the jump from primary to secondary school.

Once again great energy and enthusiasm was provided by Gordon Marshall and Geri McDonnell, youth workers based at GYC and Broughton HS.

The group explored far and wide, visiting sites at Vogrie Country Park, Gore Glen, the Pentland Hills, John Muir Country Park, Capielaw Wood, Binning Wood and Tyninghame Beach.

Tasks included rhodie bashing, gorse burning, wild flower planting, tree thinning and fence removal. Plenty time was also given to exploring the local wild spaces through a variety of environmental games, including of course a highly competitive game of Stag and Doe.

Of course all the hard work deserved some hearty food, and the group challenged Ray Mears’ outdoor cooking skills by serving up eggy bread, bacon rolls, cheesy tortillas and of course gooey marshmallows.

The programme was a great success, blessed by some particularly fine weather, which was just as well considering how wet and sandy the group came back from their visit to Tyninghame beach.

“Honestly, we only went in up to our ankles!”

Green Shoots is looking forward to more of the same next year!

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Saheliya - report on Summer Partnership with the Green Team

The first impressions I had of the Green Team were that they would be very Outdoorish and would not be able to have a fun experience at all. I was then greatly surprised when the workers Mandy Craig and volunteers were very approachable, easy to talk to and very down to earth.

The young girls had a fantastic time exploring Edinburgh's sites learning about Roddy Bashing, clearing the overgrown paths and very importantly the safety aspects about the areas we were working in. We loved the rangers' and Charlotte's wee talks about their specific area. Girls loved wading in the water and being able to work in teams of the different groups as normally they only see each other at Open days or celebration events.

Of course the great picnics were very much needed and appreciated after all the hard work. We would love to do more as the girls and young women showed a real keenness and excitement to be out and about in nature. Redhall Gardens was fantastic, we had the luxury of a personal guide (Ed) who showed us around the gardens and we got to sample some lovely berries (wild strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries), peas, broad beans and other scrummy vegetables. Young Saheliya would love to take this connection further and do more activities of this kind with the Green Team in order to get more out of this experience. Staff feedback was positive even in the rain!!! All in all a positive result as it was worth it and not TOO OUTDOORISH as I thought at first. Jacintha Canary, Young Saheliya Coordinator

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Advanced Programme Update

Our group of intrepid adventurers scaled and explored the wilds of Scotland on a series of day and residential projects throughout the summer and early autumn. The first challenge for the group was to get to grips with wilderness camping in Roeburn Wood in Argyll. New skills in campcraft, outdoor cooking and surviving ‘things that go bump’ in the night were quickly learnt and applied during the overnight trip. The group did some sterling work removing debris from the burn that supplied drinking water to the site and learnt some basic forestry and logging skills, such as splitting using traditional tools. A hike up the local hill provided spectacular views down the Clyde and an epic game of Capture the Flag was hardly even affected by ferocious midgies. On return to Edinburgh, a local conservation day burning gorse gave the lads an opportunity to meet up over the summer holidays, before heading off to the Isle of Arran to undertake some work on the National Trust property of Goatfell and Glen Sannox. The group began their venture with some familiar rhodie bashing before hiking up to a high corrie to undertake some bog restoration. The mells that had to be heaved up the mountain side were put to good use to create dams by driving in sections of corrugated plastic. With the dams in place, the water table would have a chance to rise, therefore helping native bog plant species to re-establish themselves. Day 3 saw the group undertake some footpath maintenance by clearing out the cross drains. Unlike the previous day, the sun split the sky and an impromptu swimming session in the burn of Glen Sannox was greatly appreciated. The final day was perfectly rounded off with an exploration of local caves and a deer spotting mission.

The final phase of the programme passed the responsibility of planning to the group, with the boys creating the menu for the Cairngorms expedition. After convincing the lads that Irn Bru and Pot Noodles were not an ideal menu, a shopping list was drawn up. A hike up Arthur’s Seat provided the opportunity to test out boots and rucksacks, and for some was a bit of a reality check.

Sun greeted the departure day of the Cairngorms expedition and after a stop off to explore the Hermitage at Dunkeld, the group arrived at Loch Morlich near Aviemore ready to begin the hike to the first night’s camp site. It took a while for the group to adjust to the weight of their rucksacks, but it was not enough to put off one individual from carry a fishing rod on the journey.

The group arrived as dusk fell and the midgies were at their biting best. Fortunately thanks to their previous practice at Roeburn Wood, the group was pretty slick at setting up tents and cooking their evening meal.

A sleepy bunch awoke the next day to tackle a testing hike to the Cairngorm’s ‘Sugar Bowl’ car park to meet up with the local Ranger for the day’s task. After a well earned rest and a large lunch, upland path repair was order of the day, with the group cutting into the surrounding peat hag to help repair braided paths and dig drainage channels.

With the task completed the group headed off to the second campsite. High winds and driving rain led to a change of plans and the group dropped into the valley to spend the night at Ryvoan bothy. Wet clothes were gladly exchanged for warm dry ones, and after a hearty meal the group gathered in the bothy to tell ghost stories. After suitably scaring each other witless, the group sleepily wandered off to their tents for the night.

The final day brought fine weather once again and the group set off on the final stretch back to the minibus. Smiles and smelly feet were in abundance, but activities for the day were far from over. For many the highlight was still to come, in the form of gorge walking with instructors from Lagganlia Outdoor Centre. Kitted up in fleecy romper suits and waterproofs the group headed off to scale the heights of the gorge, whooping, sliding and splashing as much as possible throughout.

Fish ‘n’ chips rounded off the day before the long drive back to Edinburgh, where an exhausted group happily presented parents and families with a rucksack of soggy dirty washing.

As always a final presentation was well attended by friends and family and gave the lads an opportunity to reflect upon the remarkable journey each of them had made over the last year. It was fantastic to observe how each individual adapted to each challenge and matured over the duration of the programme. Long after the midgie bites have subsided the memories and shared laughter and sense of achievement will live on in the hearts of all involved.

Particular thanks go to Kim McIntosh and the National Trust for Scotland, the Cairngorms Ranger Service and Lagganlia Outdoor Centre for their support.

FOREST SCHOOL, Firhill HS (2) - Oct ‘08

Firhill High School has definitely got the Forest School bug. Following a successful first Forest School partnership back in February ’08, the Guidance Team at Firhill HS was keen to engage other Prevoc pupils in the programme.

A group of ten S3 pupils hiked up to Sanctuary Wood for the first time in September to explore the boundaries of the site and quickly settled in to Forest School life. Each session took the familiar form of a conservation task, a forest skills session, lunch, environmental activities and games, followed by a cook out and review.

Of course the time of year brought with it some challenging weather, including a stunning crisp day with blue skies and a blanket of snow. The group rose to the challenge of first rescuing the van from skidding off the road, to then braving the cold forest floor to learn essential first aid skills.

Laurel and gorse were chopped, lopped and ceremoniously burned, drainage ditches were cleared, tree guards were removed, orienteering markers were checked and raspberry bushes thinned.

The group put much of their weekly effort into creating a lean-to group shelter, which provided some welcome relief during the search and rescue mission of Mr Bullik on a cold snowy day. Participants made bird feeders, practised lashing techniques, mastered the one match fire challenge and perfected their carving skills.

The weather stayed fine for a beautiful hike from Flotterstone to Bonaly, with panoramic views rewarding the group’s hard efforts. The group’s ability to rise to a challenge and support each other was remarkable throughout the programme, and it has been encouraging to hear of the continued positive progress individuals have been making both in their Duke of Edinburgh Award and class work.

Forest School champion and guidance teacher Paul Chambers has commented that since Forest School individuals are;

“…..far better at adapting ideas to build on the suggestions of others….

Able to “..encourage quieter pupils to contribute and ensure the more dominant individuals are happy to listen..”

“…are less self critical, more optimistic when faced with challenge and opportunity..”

“..noticebly fitter…have improved dramatically…are at far less risk of exclusion and have participated in follow up projects which would have been impossible without the Green Team experience.”

The group’s enthusiasm was clear to see at the customary end of term celebrations. Pictures of the group’s journey and cartoon blogs created from their experiences described the highs and lows of their time at Forest School, and it was smiles all round as the group received their sectional Service and Skills certificates for the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the John Muir Discovery Award.

Plans are already afoot for the next two Forest Schools, with the programme due to play a critical role in underpinning the curriculum of the ‘Prevocational’ groups over the next year.

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