Education Training Day

An informative training day was held for Learning Staff and Volunteers by Angela Mann from Preston Montford FSC who gave many ploys to hook visitors into discovering what swims in our stream and prove just how clean it is.  Here pictured with how a tablet can be put to use in our labs she got everyone very focussed in(pun?!). Our afternoon was led by NT ecologist Andy Perry who got us all looking carefully at plantlife almost as small as our water creatures! It was just fascinating to be given such great detail to further everyone's interests in what lives here. A true learning day.

Learning Volunteers Training Day

Last Friday Learning Volunteers had their first winter training day.  Carrying out a review of the year’s services to schools and working outdoors to exchange with each other the helpful practices each of us uses.  You can see Pete muscled in on the chocolate cake opening of one of our new indoor lunch shelters.  Our thanks to Patrick and the LTVs for their stirling work in so quickly creating it!  In the afternoon Malcolm explained how we can provide services for the new Secondary School  Geography curriculum, although I think the photo was when he justified what he calls very close misses in Liverpool’s last game! 

Improving our visitor experience

On the 4^th of March the Learning Team at Carding Mill Valley had a useful day looking at the “visitor journey” made by students. Much discussion was had about best practice, Health & Safety and the sixteen staff and volunteers were able to give each other many helpful hints on how to make a student visit a memorable one and how to upgrade the quality of our services. 

The team is dedicated to providing much more than ticks for covering some of the National Curriculum.  We want children to get engaged with nature, to question, understand and thirst to learn, to possibly feel awe, to want to explore more and to become conservators of it.  We hope that for many their visit will be a lasting memory.

Winter Education Visits

On Monday our Learning Officer instructed a group of 22 M.A. students from Birmingham University through the processes of leading Geography fieldtrips.  Within a year we hope that they all find a teaching job and make a return visit with their students, confident in the activities of booking, risk assessments and conducting river studies.

School Visit to Wilderhope

Schools have been learning about the countryside at Wilderhope farm. This included a farm walk, visiting cattle and sheep, pond dipping, and meeting the farmer! All the kids had a great time, even when it poured with rain.

More Trees Down!

Full Time Volunteers Isabel and Richard went out with volunteer John Worrell to tidy up the Education Woodland. A few trees have come down, and it needs to be safe for when the school groups start using it again.

Using the pole saw, they took off a limb that was hanging over the fence.

Then it was a steep climb to the top of the woods were a large tree had fallen, and gotten hooked on several other trees. 

It took a long while to safely take down the tree, but now the woodland is ready for students to explore again!

Footpath Damage

Rangers and Education Staff went with Paul Butter from Shropshire County Council to look at the state of the foot path above Lightspout Waterfall. The path runs alongside a wet flush system that goes along the valley floor. Wet flush systems are one of the most important habitats on the hill, some with over 100 different species in.

This path has been heavily eroded, as the path gets wetter and muddier, people walk to the side, causing the path to get wider and wider. As you can see below, this causes significant damage to the path.

In order to protect the vulnerable wet flushes, work will soon be undertaken to repair and maintain the path. This will be a joint project between Shropshire County Council and the National Trust.

Learning Volunteers Training Day

Chris Stratton and Rob Webster led two training sessions for their learning volunteers last month. Both days were very successful, with Chris and Rob imparting their valuable knowledge so that others can share it. Every year hundreds of schools flock to Carding Mill Valley. This not only provides a valuable source of income, but also encourages kids to get out and explore the countryside. The sessions finished with a viewing of the Project Wild Thing film and a raffle, the proceeds of which were donated to Project Wild Thing.

Staff Walk

Staff at Carding Mill Valley enjoyed a walk before work on Tuesday. With Chris and Nick as their guides, the group set off from Shooting Box Car Park, heading down the path to Light Spout Hollow and back into the valley. This was to teach staff who don't often get the chance to get out on the hill, and give them a bit of background information.

Wet Feet

Education Officers Chris and Rob teach several school groups a week, so it is always nice when their hard work is recognised. These quotes from emails from a school that recently visited show just how much they enjoyed it, despite getting water in their wellies!

'I really enjoyed it when we got into the stream and was doing the cork activity. My feet and joggers were soaking, all my wellies was filled up but never mind because I enjoyed it.'

'One of our favourite things was pond dipping although it got us wet we all enjoyed looking at the different species of insect and how they move. And we were really surprised we found something rare.'

Its great they enjoyed it so much! If you or someone you know wants to bring their school here get in touch!

Staff Walks

Some of the staff at Carding Mill Valley went for a walk on Thursday with Chris to learn more about the area.

Chris shows Nicola and Julie how it used to be

Chris explained about the local history, telling how the area used to have a water mill and was a holiday destination for Victorians. Everyone was very impressed with his knowledge! Next time they will walk from the Burway into the valley.

A Visit From Attingham Park

Last Friday Carding Mill Valley's Education Officer Chris Stratton had a very different set of people to teach: instead of his normal groups of school children, Chris was teaching some of the Education Team from National Trust's Attingham Park! He showed them the type of activities he does with school groups, which range from the youngest primary school children to students studying for their GCSEs. These activities include pond dipping, bird watching and orienteering, but their favourite was using the microscopes! The Attingham Team are planning to try this out for themselves so they can expand their department.



The Attingham Park Team and Chris

 

Pond Dipping

Visitors young and old have enjoyed Carding Mill Valley's Learning Officer Chris Stratton's pond dipping sessions! These run every Wednesday and cost £1 per child. They get to search for creatures in the pond by the bird hide, with Chris on hand to help identify any finds, and there's also a chance to examine it under the microscope on rainy days. If you fancy a go no need to book, just turn up! There are two sessions: 11:00 to 12:30 and 14:00 to 15:30



First Step: Searching for creatures



Second Step: Identifying your find!



Scrappies at CMV

Learning Officer, Chris Stratton is helping support Scrappies recycling store in Church Stretton by using their materials in an Art service to schools.  

Learning providers Rob, Suzanne, Laura, Jerry, Anne and Chris supervised microscope work on stream water invertebrates with two visiting groups this week. They also compared what differences there were with insects in placid water at the ponds. 

Scrappies Artist Liz Still also worked alongside these 100  students to encourage children to carefully study Dragonflies and Damselflies and take home some brilliant creations (which you can see here) all made from scrap materials. If you are an artist or involved with a local school there are some great materials to be had very cheaply at Scrappies in Church Stretton.

River Study Fun in CMV

Chris Stratton, our Learning Officer has been booked up with schools every day from Easter until the end of the summer term.  Ages of his school visitors can one day be 4 yr olds and the next 15 yr olds doing GCSE coursework.  Size of groups varies too ranging from just half a dozen up to well over a hundred.  In that case Chris is thankfully supported by a brilliant team of volunteers (many being retired teachers) so that each group of 15 children is accompanied by one of his trained helpers.

His antics range from what you see here – collecting water insects to put under microscopes to enable identification and sketching, to river measurements, orienteering, habitats work and geology.  And whatever the weather you can bet everyone gets quite wet but has a real bundle of fun exploring the nature of our variety of habitats.

Giants on the Long Mynd!

Learning officers Chris Stratton and Rob Webster went to St Lawrence CE Primary School last week to tell the children in class 4 all about the Long Mynd. The children then created stories, pictures and posters to show other people what they had learnt.

They based their work on the giants of the Long Mynd and how they created the hill many years ago. The children's lovely work can be seen in the back of the tearoom, please go and have a look!

Rewarding work in the Shropshire hills

Each year, 24 hardy volunteers help the Shropshire Hills team get 4,500 children connected with nature and the outdoors.

A rewarding exercise

It’s an incredibly rewarding exercise. You can hear comments such as 'Cor it ain’t ‘alf beautiful innit? I’m gonna build me ‘ouse ‘ere when I’m older' (15yr old girl from inner city Birmingham) or 'Wow this has been the best day out ever.  I’m going to ask if I can come back for my birthday treat' (8yr old boy).

Although most schools are bringing students to conduct Geography fieldwork the team ensure they do an awful lot more. 

Peace despite the crowds

They manage some pretty big groups. Sometimes nearly 200 students can arrive at once, but, as Chris Stratton, learning officer for the area, says 'within 2 mins of getting off their coaches we are leading our own little group of 15 up into the hills and far away!'

'It’s not difficult to find peace here despite the numbers and one.of the activities that many young people comment upon is the peace. We get everyone to stand absolutely still and quiet, shut their eyes if they want and just listen.  They might hear the mew of a buzzard, the bleat of a sheep or the stream babbling over the rocks – it really makes an impression.'

Making an impression

As does getting your feet wet when splashing about in a stream, taking a variety of measurements for use back in class. Other activities include using the field labs. Children catch water invertebrates to bring indoors and put under a microscope. Through the teaching and the activities the team engenders a real connection with nature and how to conserve it. 

Stories and experiences to take away
Every group is taken on a walk up the hillside. The walk may include scrambling over rocks, getting prickled by gorse, hunting for wimberries or smelling watermint and lemon scented fern. They get to feel the wind in their hair - something almost as good as the views.

For many it’s the first time to have been up so high. The anxiety of walking along a narrow hillside path with a valley falling steeply away below you is soon translated into a raised self-esteem and sometimes the promise to bring back Dad & Mum and tell them too about 'interlocking spurs' or 'erosion' or one of the team's amazing stories.

Most schools recognise their students are learning so much more than they are required to in a syllabus.  Hence the return visits.  The idea of enabling students to gain an affinity with nature, to become risk-savvy in streams, over rocks and down hill slopes is seen to be giving youngsters both a day to remember and some important set ups for life.

If you're interested in volunteering, then contact Emily Knight at the Chalet Pavillion, Carding Mill Valley or ring
01694 725001.

Education in Carding Mill Valley

The Learning Team at CMV has created a “Guardianship” link with both the Primary and Secondary schools in Church Stretton. This means that over the past year we have offered a variety of services to the teachers and students of both schools so that they can all feel that hey have an ownership of The Long Mynd and Wenlock Edge as well as a responsibility in looking after the properties because they have learned so much about them and hopefully begun to love and care for them.

The range of activities that have been conducted and supported by our great team of volunteers has include geology work - whereby students have studied and compared the rocks of both sites in great detail (Long Mynd being pre Cambrian and Wenlock Edge being Silurian limestone with lots of interesting fossils to hunt for). River Studies were conducted by students from both schools (whereby measurements were taken at various sites to compare how the stream changes along its course – involves getting wet!!). Some students conducted biological studies by fishing for small invertebrates in the stream and then using microscopes in our field labs to get to grips with what lives there and why. Some of the older students have come both in summer and winter to do a bit of orienteering, chasing around the valley in small teams to search for markers that will help them not just with map reading skills but get them to know their way around and experience the ambience of the valley. Perhaps one of the most successful ventures was during the schools “activities week” when the year 8’s were led on to the top of the hill via a route none of them had previously experienced. After a very steep uphill climb the expressions of awe and appreciation of the beauty were witness to a memory that many will not forget for many years,