Education update
New Forest Cycle Festival
The New Forest National Park Authority and UK Cycling Events are proud to announce the first New Forest Cycle Festival taking place over the weekend of 2 and 3 October, at Brockenhurst College.
The Festival has been designed to appeal to a wide audience, ranging from serious cyclists to families. Over 1500 participants have already signed up to the non-competitive cycle rides taking place across the weekend, and a range of activities and entertainment is planned for the Brockenhurst College site. All cycle rides and on site activities are free for under 16’s.
Please feel free to promote this event within your school using the attached flyer.
More details at:-
www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/cyclefestival
New Forest cycle festival (182 KB)
Learning Outside the Classroom: A Secondary School Science Toolkit
Saturday 8 May 9.30am to 3.30pm
This inspiring day will help KS3 and 4 teachers to engage pupils in outdoor science. A keynote speech by Professor Justin Dillon, King’s College London is followed by Biology, Chemistry and Physics activity sessions and a guided tour of the gardens.
This event qualifies for an Impact Award of £200 cashback per training day. Any teacher from a maintained school can apply.
For more details about the course: visit Science Learning Centres website or click on the link below
Learning outside the classroom: a toolkit for physics, chemistry and biology teachers (144 KB)
Coastal postcard competition
The postcard competition is now closed, and the judges would like to say a big thank you to all the entrants. The standard was very high, and choosing the winners will not be easy!
Look out for the designs on the website soon!
Watch this space for the next competition…..
The Year of Food and Farming
The Year of Food and Farming aims to promote healthy living by offering young people direct experience of the countryside, farming and food. The Year runs from September 2007 to July 2008 and during that time, there’ll be exciting opportunities for children to:
- follow the story from 'field to fork'
- explore the importance of food
- make informed decisions about food and healthy nutrition
- watch what happens on a real-life farm
- experience what the countryside can offer
- learn more about environmental issues linked to food and the countryside.
Its easy to get involved just register on The Year of Food and Farming Website at www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk or contact us for more details on opportunities within the New Forest National Park.
Learning outside the classroom
The National Park Authority has been working closely with other environmental education providers across the National Park to produce an exciting new document in celebration of the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto. Entitled ‘Learning Outside the Classroom in the New Forest National Park’ this 32 page guide aims to showcase the fantastic opportunities that are available for taking groups into the Park. It provides background information, colour photos, suggestions for study, places to stay and full details of the range of educational opportunities available. This guide is being launched at the Hampshire Outdoor Fair being held at the Guildhall, Winchester on Tuesday 2 October 2007. The Learning Guide is available to download free of charge on the Educational links section of this site.
Fun Zone
The National Park Authority’s very own fun zone is being launched this week. It includes a wildlife guide, quiz and students’ gallery as well as an interactive virtual pony game. The wildlife guide contains stacks of information on the common and unusual species found across the New Forest habitats and aims to support the science curriculum in a fun and visual way. Why not check it out?
Forest Force
The New Forest National Park Authority, New Forest District Council and the Forestry Commission joined together on the 24 March to launch ‘Forest Force,’ a week-long mass event aimed at encouraging hundreds of volunteers to take a stand against litter in the National Park. Throughout the week groups such as Parish Councils, Rotary groups and brownies volunteered to clean up the Forest, and concerned individuals joined daily litter picks across the National Park. Children were also ‘doing their bit’ litter-picking at a number of local schools; making this the biggest combined effort in over 30 years of spring clean events. All this activity brought the total amount of litter collected to a staggering 143 bags since February. This was a great start to tackling one of the big issues within the National Park. It is now up to us all to help ensure the Forest remains a litter free environment!
Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto
Recognising that “hands on” experience of the world beyond the classroom is an essential part of every child’s learning, the DCFS officially launched the Outside the Classroom Manifesto on 2nd October 2008, complete with an “Out and About Package”.
The web based package of support, advice and guidance will help schools organise vital learning outside the classroom experiences.
The New Forest National Park Authority, along with the other National Parks, fully endorses the manifesto, and has pledged to support the action points within it.
View the manifesto and package by following the link.