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Green Shoots News: 2009
You can read more about the Green Shoots programme on the main Green Shoots page. This page gives you a flavour for what we've been doing this year. You can also read news from 2006, 2007 and 2008.
What’s been happening recently?
Green Shoots is continuing to engage with young people in conservation projects throughout the Edinburgh and the Lothians, and thanks to funding from the Robertson Trust, JP Getty and the Moffat Trust we've had a busy start to 2009.
The Young Person’s Mental Health Unit finished working to design and transform the centre’s garden.
For the third successive year Green Shoots worked in partnership with the Granton Youth Centre to provide an exciting transition programme for pupils moving from Primary 7 to local High Schools.
Spring saw the Forest School model move to a new site in East Lothian for a condensed programme with Preston Lodge High School. Located in Butterdean Woods the group quickly settled into the swing of Forest School life.
What’s coming up?
Firrhill Forest School continues to go from strength to strength with their 3rd 12-week venture out to Sanctuary Wood beginning in September. A subsequent group will be braving the crisp winter days of February and will be able to experience the exciting changes of the seasons by the time the programme wraps up in May. This project is supported by the East Neighbourhood Partnership.
Staff at the High School recognise the crucial role Forest School plays in engaging young people in alternative forms of education, and consequently are using the programme to underpin their Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and the Curriculum for Excellence.
The S1 Referral Programme will be working pupils who are anticipated to find the move from Primary to High School challenging. The programme will bring together pupils from across the city to work on a series of conservation projects with a view to building confidence, communication skills and teamwork. The move from Primary School to S1 is seen as one of the key ‘rites of passage’ that every young person goes through in life. By engaging pupils proactively at an earlier stage of their development, the programme aims to build the sense of resilience and self-confidence required to cope positively with life at High School.
Referrals are now being accepted for the autumn programme. The referral deadline has been extended to 26th August. Please click here for further details and the referral form.
Or contact Sara Rasmussen (Raz) - see Contact Us.
CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services) - March ‘09
In
a departure from the usual ‘slash and burn’ activities, Green Shoots
took on a gardening project with a group attending the Young Person’s Mental
Health Unit at the Royal Edinburgh. The project partners were keen to involve
the young people in taming the garden jungle at the back of the Unit, and create
a space that could be utilised by the young people.
After a meeting with the group to discuss some ideas work began initially on tackling the overgrown weeds. With some help from volunteers form the local horticulture project the weeds were banished and work could begin on sowing seeds and planting bedding plants.
The group enjoyed painting colourful pots which were later planted with sunflowers, herbs, onions and lettuce. An apple tree was also planted and affectionately named ‘Aggie’.
From week to week the garden slowly took shape and some willow hurdle weaving finished off the edges of the flower beds nicely. After a break for a month it was encouraging to return to the garden to see the poppies that had been sown flowering and apples fruiting on the tree.
A final creative session in the garden saw the group decorate more pots to brighten up the garden, construct a bird table, make fatty seed cone feeders and turn their hand to creating delicate dream catchers.
The programme wrapped up with a trip to the Hermitage of Braids where the group enjoyed a stroll along the river and learnt how to use a storm kettle.
FOREST SCHOOL, Preston Lodge HS – May ‘09
A new partnership with Preston Lodge High School saw Forest School relocate to Butterdean Wood in East Lothian for a condensed Spring programme.
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Nine S3 pupils ventured out to the beautiful mixed woodland each week to take on a variety of conservation tasks, ranging from thinning sycamore and cutting back encroaching vegetation, to dismantling an old dilapidated Scout Hut and repairing a boggy footpath.
The group quickly grew accustomed to their surroundings and after establishing a fire site and creating some stylish benches, Forest School was feeling like a home from home. The group took this one stage further the following week when the lads created easily the best shelter ever seen at Forest School, a mini log cabin that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Little House on the Prairie!
The group’s interest in creating and making things was directed into carving spoons. Each young person marked out their spoon shape with charcoal, split the wood, carved the handle and shoulders and created the bowl by blowing on a glowing ember.
Cooking and games of hidey were of course firm favourites, but the highlight of the programme had to be hunting for animal tracks and trails with East Lothian Ranger Leigh Shearer. The group had great fun searching for an owl, a badger, a fox, a stoat and a weasel hidden in the undergrowth and enjoyed examining the stuffed animals up close. Their observation skills were further challenged on a walk through the woods where evidence of many woodland creatures was uncovered; fox poo, a squirrel table, owl pellets containing bones and tiny skulls, bird of prey kills and a badger latrine were all discovered.
The programme was wrapped up with a giant cook out of tortillas and pancakes, whilst the group reflected upon their time on the programme.
The programme was a great success and a film of the group’s trials and tribulations will follow after the summer.
Thanks go to Dylan Bell (Preston Lodge HS), Steven Wray (NHS), Leigh Shearer of East Lothian Ranger Service, James Gilmour of the Woodland Trust, Kim McIntosh (John Muir Award) and Iain Macneill (Comm Ed. Placement student) for their support, energy and enthusiasm.
GYC TRANSITION – May ‘09
Another successful partnership that continues to go from strength to strength is the Granton Youth Centre Transition Project. Staffed alongside two key youth workers based at Broughton High School and Granton Youth Centre, the programme is entering its third year of supporting pupils who struggle with the transition from primary to secondary school.
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11 pupils from Granton and Royston primary were identified and explored a variety of wild places from the beaches of East Lothian and the dells of Gore Glen, to the meadows of Cammo Country Park, and the river of the Water of Leith.
Although younger than the average age of most Green Team participants, the group applied itself well to conservation tasks tackling rhodie, sea buckthorn, Japanese knotweed and gorse, and effectively removing an old fence at Cammo Country Park. A trip to the stunning beach at Tyninghame saw the programme draw to a close.
Although attendance fluctuated, particularly during the summer months, the group always engaged in each day with great spirits. Highlights included pond dipping and the creation of a 5* frog hotel at Gore Glen, succeeding at the 1 match fire challenge to make smores and collapsing on a pile of Japanese Knotweed at the end of an all out team effort to clear the invasive species.
With an advanced residential programme in the pipeline for the end of the year it is hoped that some of the GYC group will feed into an exciting series of sessions exploring wild places locally and further afield. Watch this space to see how they get on!
Many thanks once again go to Geri McDonnell and Gordon Marshall for their great organisation and energy throughout.
OTHER BITS AND BOBS
Green Shoots has been busy in early 2009 with supporting a variety of ad-hoc groups. Healthy Living week saw over 60 pupils from Brunstane Primary tackle the overgrown wildlife trail bordering the side of the school playing fields.
Award Inclusive groups from Craigmount HS and St Augustine’s HS got stuck into a variety of comprehensive conservation tasks, including tackling the never ending rhodie at Hopetoun House and Binning Wood, planting over 200 juniper trees in the Pentland Hills and digging out drainiage ditches at Harlaw Reservoir.
The Rock Trust also got stuck into the rhododendron at Hopetoun House (I told you it was never ending!), and also did a good demolition job on the cheesy tortillas cooked on the fire after the work was completed.
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