The Birnbeck Forest School Wales Liability Scheme :

• Endorsement 1: Qualified Individual Forest School Practitioners

Costs £157.50 plus £25 FSW membership = £182 .50
This includes cover for volunteers working with that FSL.

 

The Birnbeck Forest School Wales Liability Scheme :

• Endorsement 2: Forest School Trainees

Costs £157.50 plus £25 FSW membership = £182 .50
The trainee must be working alongside a qualified insured FSL who is also a FSW member.

 

The Birnbeck Forest School Wales Liability Scheme :

• Endorsement 3: Forest School Groups

i) The premium for the Employers Liability cover will be calculated by applying a rate% on the annual wages paid – thus an annual wage bill of £40,000 would create an annual premium for Employers Liability of £252.00, and for £20,000 it would be £126.00.
ii) The premium for the Public Liability section would be rated on Turnover (ie: fees collected etc) at a rate of 0.35% – thus for a turnover of £100,000 the premium would be £350 + tax = £367.50.
Larger organisations requiring both EL and PL will need to add these two costs together, plus a FSW membership of £100.

This package covers volunteers and also sub contractors without their own insurance (who are therefore providing ‘labour only’).

Cover for tools can be negotiated as a extra “bolt-on” cost.

For more information please contact Eddie at Birnbeck Finance Ltd on 01934 522252

You will need to quote your FSW membership number. If you are a trainee you will also need to quote the membership number of the qualified FSL with whom you are working.

For information about becoming a member of Forest School Wales, or to download a membership form please click here

Erica was also able to visit a Forest School session in North Wales with pupils from Ysgol Tir Morfa, where six years of tapering delivery from independent practitioner Sarah Wilson coupled with increasing capacity within the school have created high quality cohesive Forest School provision.  Erica was interested in this model as an alternative to that where schools establish their own Forest Schools programmes with little contact with other FS Leaders.

Originally from Cardiff, Erica has a good understanding of the relationship between Welsh and English governments, and FSW board members felt she is ideally placed to ensure that the experiences and needs of welsh FS practitioners are clearly represented within the NGB business plan.

Erica’s appointment as FS NGB Development Officer is the result of last Autumn’s survey which, according to the NGB Steering Group, established a clear mandate to set up a UK-wide governing body for Forest School.

Over the coming months Erica will be consulting widely with interested parties throughout the UK.

One main focus of Erica’s work will be to establish clearly defined national occupational standards for the FSL training and qualification.  She will also be considering what structure will best suit the NGB, and how it can support high standards of FS delivery.

Forest School Wales is being copied into the minutes of the NGB Steering Group meetings, the main role of which from now on will be to support Erica.

In October Hazel Wildwood handed over her badges of office to our new admin assistant Barbara Hadrill. Trustees presented Hazel with a small Witchhazel (Hamamelis Mollis), in thanks for her all hard work supporting FSW and members for the past four years.

Hazel will be concentrating on her own tree business and a local community tree nursery project, and hopes to be able to offer training for members of FSW in 2011. We all wish her the best of luck.

We also said a sad goodbye to Caswell Bay.
YGC/FSW is very grateful to Swansea City Council and Forest School SNPT for hosting FSW for nearly a decade.

The Forest School Wales office is now located in the Dyfi Eco Park in Machynlleth, where a Forestry Hub has recently been established by Forestry Commission Wales and the Wales Forest Business Partnership in order to boost partnership working between organisations working in Welsh woodlands.

We are very grateful to Frankie Owen of the Wales Forest Business Partnership and Barbara Anglezarke of FCW for supporting FSW to make this move.

Barbara Haddrill has been working hard to get the new office up and running, including getting the computer and email to adapt to the move. The problems are now all ironed out and all being well, things will run smoothly in 2011.

When she is not working for FSW, Barbara and her horse Tyler provide low carbon countryside maintenance muscle, moving logs and bashing bracken. Barbara also works to promote her book ~ Babs to Brisbane ~ which recounts her experiences of travelling to Australia to be a bridesmaid without using aeroplanes, to raise awareness about the effect of air travel on climate change.

Our New Home

The newly established Forestry Hub in the Dyfi Eco Park, Machynlleth brings together in a single office base a range of organisations, from community woodland groups to commercial forest industry organisations.
The Wales Forest Business Partnership’s office has been transformed into the new hub and in addition to Forest School Wales, staff from Coed Lleol, Llais y Goedwig and the Dyfi Woodland Group have already moved into their new base, and will be joined by Wood Fuel Wales and Wood Source Wales over the coming weeks.

The Wales Forest Business Partnership has welcomed the creation of the forestry hub. Partnership Manager Frankie Owen said, “At a number of our recent events, one of the most striking conclusions was that all parties face the challenge of how to better share the knowledge and experience that exists within the timber sector. We expect the new forestry hub will be one more step in making those connections, helping to improve competitiveness of businesses and the sector.”

Barbara Anglezarke, Forestry Commission Wales’s Policy and Programme Manager, said, “A key outcome of the Woodlands for Wales strategy is that people understand the huge range of benefits that woodlands can offer, and that the forestry sector becomes better integrated and more competitive, thus supporting the Welsh economy.
Having such a range of organisations working from the forestry hub will lead to a better understanding of opportunities, co-operative working and shared initiatives within the sector. In addition, overheads for all the organisations will be reduced so that more resources can be used to deliver activities.”

In addition to “hot desks” the forestry hub will also contain a meeting room, and office space for Forestry Commission Wales staff.

PLAYLINK has circulated this information to alert practitioners to the report and to offer a taste of its findings.

‘Common Sense, Common Safety’ is well worth reading in full. It can be found at: http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/topstorynews/2010/10/lord-young-report-55605

From PLAYLINK’s perspective, we want to draw particular attention to the significance accorded to:

• Taking a ‘common sense’ approach to health and safety. As many readers will know, PLAYLINK, with others, has promoted the inestimable value of deploying common sense to inform judgment.
• Shifting ‘from a system of risk assessment to a system of risk-benefit assessment’ (context for this quote appears in full below).
• Considering reviewing the Health and Safety at Work etc Act ‘to separate out play and leisure from workplace contexts’.

Please circulate this eNewsletter to others who may be interested. Do contact us if you want to discuss the report and its potential implications. If you are not already subscribed to the PLAYLINK eNewsletter you may care to do so now.

Common Sense, Common Safety: extracts

From the Prime Minister’s foreword to the report:

We simply cannot go on like this. That’s why I asked Lord Young to do this review and put some common sense back into health and safety. And that’s exactly what he has done.

I hope this review can be a turning point. Lord Young has come forward with a wide range of far reaching proposals which this Government fully supports. We’re going to curtail the promotional activities of claims management companies and the compensation culture they help perpetuate. We’re going to end the unnecessary bureaucracy that drains creativity and innovation from our businesses.

And we’re going to put a stop to the senseless rules that get in the way of volunteering, stop adults from helping out with other people’s children and penalise our police and fire services for acts of bravery.

Instead, we’re going to focus regulations where they are most needed; with a new system that is proportionate, not bureaucratic; that treats adults like adults and reinstates some common sense and trust.

Extract from the Executive Summary

My report highlights the role that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and local authorities have in promoting a common sense approach to health and safety. Their role is pivotal in ensuring that businesses, schools and voluntary organisations can operate in a way where health and safety is applied in a proportionate manner.
Extract from section on Local authorities

There is some inconsistency across local authorities, and the rules on health and safety are not always applied with a view to a proper risk management approach. In some instances it is clear that officials are giving poor advice to organisations and individuals, who are in turn prevented from running an event (for example a school fete) when there is no legitimate reason not to on health and safety grounds. However, there is no requirement to put these reasons in writing and the specific grounds for the decision are often not made transparent.

There is also currently no system for appeal or redress when an event is banned or curtailed ‘for health and safety reasons’. They are simply required to accept the decision and not go ahead with the event as planned. They could also be discouraged from even planning such an event for fear or expectation that a local authority official will not allow it.

I would like to see the Government put a system in place whereby individuals have the right to ask local authority officials who ban events on health and safety grounds to put their reasons in writing.

Extract from section on Adventure training

I would recommend that we abolish the licensing of adventurous activities through the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority and instead introduce a code of practice that the HSE will oversee and monitor. The HSE should also ensure that those planning trips can feel confident that a provider is compliant with the code. Since this is a devolved issue, I will work with the devolved administrations on taking forward this initiative in Scotland and Wales.Extract from section on Educational visits

There have been a number of cases where schools have prevented pupils from taking part in educational visits citing health and safety as the reason for non-participation.

The process for taking children on educational visits involves a huge amount of form-filling – ranging from consent forms to risk assessments… This process can involve excessive bureaucracy that is not proportionate to the role it plays in reducing the risk of accidents. It merely serves as a deterrent and an excuse to ‘do nothing’.

As a consequence, children are potentially missing out on vital education because schools just do not have the time and resource to carry out the process and, if they do, they are too concerned about the threat of legal action should an accident happen.

We should simplify the process that schools and similar organisations undertake before taking children on trips. We should introduce a single consent form, signed by a parent or guardian, which covers all activities a child may undertake during their time at a school, enabling parents to opt out of any specific activities. Consent is already not required for activities which take place during the school day and in order to reduce the amount of bureaucracy around school trips we should underline this message to schools and local authorities.

Finally, we should introduce a simplified risk assessment for classrooms which could be made available on the HSE website. The website could also provide checklists for areas in which a fuller risk assessment is required, such as sports facilities, laboratories and workshops.

Extract from section on Children’s play areas

A further area of concern is the impact of health and safety on children’s play areas. In legal terms, play provision is guided by the Health and Safety at Work etc Act. There is a widely held belief within the play sector that misinterpretations of the Act are leading to the creation of uninspiring play spaces that do not enable children to experience risk. Such play is vital for a child’s development and should not be sacrificed to the cause of overzealous and disproportionate risk assessments.

This is a further example of how legislation primarily conceived to be applied in a hazardous environment is being brought into an environment for which it is unsuited with damaging consequences.

I believe that with regard to children’s play we should shift from a system of risk assessment to a system of risk–benefit assessment, where potential positive impacts are weighed against potential risk. These ideas inform the play programme developed by the Department for Education and Department for Culture, Media and Sport and I would like to see them developed more widely. Furthermore we should consider reviewing the Health and Safety at Work etc Act to separate out play and leisure from workplace contexts.

Risk-benefit links

http://www.playlink.org/pubs/Risk-bformWeb15.12.09.pdf

http://www.playlink.org/services/risk_and_play/risk_assessment_workshop.html

About PLAYLINK

http://www.playlink.org/What-is-it

We would appreciate your help in disseminating information about PLAYLINK’s work.

If you care to, please:

1. Send this notice to individuals and organisations offering them the opportunity to join the PLAYLINK/Freeplay Network emailing list. This will help keep them informed about events and developments.
2. If you are signing on for the first time, click the link below to record your contact details.

To send your details, go to: our subscription page.

Tel: 0207 720 2452 – Web: http://playlink.org/ – Email: info@playlink.org
Content copyright (c) PLAYLINK 2006 unless otherwise stated

In addition to developing Key Skills, 57 pupils gained a Forest School OCN level 1, 10 gained an OCN Entry level, and 35 gained their John Muir Discovery Award. Two programmes were tailored specifically around ASDAN challenges.

The Forest School programmes attracted high levels of support from families, Educational Social Workers and other key Local Authority officers, and additional benefits included opportunities for work experience.

Download the full Project Report by following the link below, including recommendations and 16 detailed Case Studies. Additional Guidance Notes are available for members of Forest School Wales.

Forest School & 14-19 Learning Pathways in Denbighshire, 2006-2009, Project Report Sept 2010

The following Guidance Notes are available for members of Forest School Wales to download from Other Resources: Advice and Questions: 14-19 Learning Pathways:

14-19 Learning Pathways ~ Guidance Notes for FS practitioners

ASDAN ~ Guidance Notes for FS practitioners

The John Muir Award~ Guidance Notes for FS practitioners

Open College Network (OCN) ~ Guidance Notes for FS practitioners

“The very fact that FSW is able to voice these points…. underscores the necessity of such an independent voice as yours.  So thank you for making the issues clear.  It’s certainly inspired me to fill in the survey”.

“So much energy, dynamism, insight and sheer hard work has gone into the development of Forest School opportunity and provision in Wales which is unique both geophysically and culturally. I have always valued what I consider to be the authentic community of people with a passion for what this amazing practice has to offer. I would hate to see this swallowed into a larger bureaucratic body”.

Dear Members

The Trustees of YGC/FSW feel that this process has been initiated from within England, where FS is considerably less developed than in Wales and where the devolved nature of education, the Forestry Commission and other processes in Wales may not be fully understood.

In Wales we already have several national bodies which together have been instrumental in shaping the development of FS for many years:

• Forest School Wales, an independent grassroots membership organisation, has for 10 years now provided FS Practitioners with advice, support, networking, opportunities for training, and representation at regional at national levels.
• The Forest Education Initiative supports a network of active cluster groups which, together with the Forestry Commission Wales education team, all support the development and delivery of Forest School.

As a result, provision for Forest School is more cohesive within Wales than in England, and also more rooted in the experiences of Forest School practitioners.

The importance of Forest School is widely recognised by the Welsh Assembly Government which has structures in place by which it can communicate with national Forest School bodies. Wales has its own FS Training Network (from which the English one evolved) which works closely with the other national bodies (FSW, FEI and FCW). The Wales Forest School Training Network has a very strong working relationship with Agored Cymru (the Welsh Awarding Body): OCN units are only released to members of the Training Network, which helps to provide quality control of training.

By contrast, in England there is a fragmented network of clusters and local groups. Opportunities for networking and skillshare are lacking (according to our growing English membership). Rather than reflecting the needs of practitioners, the development of FS appears driven by training providers. In England, FS units are widely available, partly because there are many OCN regions, and partly because people who are not members of any Training Network are also able to write new slightly different units.

We feel that the NGB initiative doesn’t take into account what has been achieved in Wales, and by the established Forest School communities in Scotland and Northern Ireland. We also feel that the survey fails to address the complexities of setting up and running a national governing body for FS in the UK.

We note that the Welsh Forest School Training Network does not feel there is a need for a National Governing Body at present, and we agree with their concerns about the independence and impartiality of the survey and NGB initiative.

We feel that discussions about a UK wide Governing Body are misguided, and would counsel that England should develop its own national membership and training organisations which could engage in this debate alongside the long established Welsh bodies.

As Trustees we are seeking to initiate a wider debate amongst our members about the NGB initiative.

Please take a few minutes to complete the NGB survey, before September 2010, and ensure that the voices of Welsh FS practitioners are heard at this stage. There is plenty of room for extra comments. If you would like to share your comments with FSW, please copy them to info@forestschoolwales.org.uk . This will enable us to gauge your opinions on this matter, so that FSW can continue to bring the views of Welsh practitioners to this debate.

Please follow the link below to complete the survey:

www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZVVZ3RT

There are 9 questions and it should only take 10 minutes to complete.

Kind regards,

The Board of Trustees.