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About
Us
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Consultation
and Design - Our core service! We provide
a flexible and friendly approach, similar to the Learning
Through Landscapes grounds development process. Our
team also has the support of landscape architects and
education advisors from Durham County Council.
The process begins
with an initial meeting,
to establish your
requirements and discuss how we can help. Next,
a
member of our team will come to your school / setting to
consult your whole school community. This may involve:
assembly presentations; class sessions; staff twilight;
INSET days; open meetings; attendance at govenor
meetings. We also take care of underground services
information requests, landlords approval and Health and
Safety checks.
The final outcome
is typically a professionally drawn A1
size, coloured and laminated 'Vision Plan'. This is supported by perspective
drawings; a CD Rom Power Point presentation recording everyone's involvement
and ideas (useful for showing funding bodies or parents etc) together with
a second Power Point, featuring example photos, typical costs and other useful
information about all elements in the design.
After that, look at our Funding News and Useful Links pages to help you implement your plans.
Consultancy - Although most of our work comes directly from schools / settings, demand for our skills also comes from a range of organisations. These include private and Local Authority architects working on brand new schools (including Building Schools for the Future), environmental groups and businesses wishing to foster closer school and community links.
We have extensive experience in many areas of consultation, design, material sourcing and the educational links that can be developed within school grounds. If you are undertaking a project and do not wish to undertake our full consultation and design service, we can provide you with the benefit of our practical involvement or advice in a consultancy role. Over the years we have learnt many invaluable lessons about providing 'real' play value and realistic opportunities for using the grounds (other than at break time) whilst avoiding the possible pitfalls.
We employ a range of consultation techniques to engage members of the 'whole school community' (pupils, teachers, govenors, parents, community) as this is vital if a sense of ownership is to develop. This in turn leads to more commitment to the project, increased use of the finished design and reduced vandalism. Because we appreciate the time pressures pupils and teachers face, we try to link the consultation activities to the National Curriculum.
We can offer exciting yet practical design solutions based on our broad experience and your requirements. The team's strength lies in our understanding as designers of how far we can push boundaries, against our knowledge as practitioners of the day to day use of a scheme. We can provide you with friendly, hand drawn, coloured plans and perspectives, including photographs from our library of 'good ideas pictures'.
Training - We provide Professional Development opportunities for teachers, teaching assistants, governors and representatives from advisory services as well as the voluntary sector. All our courses focus upon delivering the Foundation Stage or National Curriculum outdoors. Recent favourites have included, "Early Years Education in the External Environment" and "Taking Science Outdoors".
Many of our sessions are delivered through the Durham Education Development Service and are charged at the same rates as other Durham courses. If you are a Durham school, use the Extranet to access the course directory. The Project also delivers courses through Sunderland LEA, South Tyneside LEA (through Groundwork South Tyneside) and Gateshead BC.
If you would like some site specific professional development, tailored to your needs, contact us and we'll develop a programme accordingly.
Our courses appeal to all learning styles but their practical nature will be very appealing to kinesthetic learners. We aim to provide participants with a variety of resources that can be used immediately back in your school / setting.
Courses for this academic year can be downloaded here:
| Courses 2008-2009 pdf - Durham, | Regional Courses through ESP 2008-9 |
Activity Sessions - We can work in your school / setting to deliver curriculum activities e.g. maths trail creation, habitat exploration or art investigation. You can also employ us to deliver some of your extended school activities such as tree planting or pond clearing.
