John Muir Award

Course Overview

Discovery, Explore, Conserve and Share Awards will be offered on this course.

See this link for details of the awards: http://www.jmt.org/jmaward-home.asp

As a group we will discover a wild place in a community. We will explore it and conserve it. Time will be spent planning and organising what we hope to achieve in our outdoor time. A notebook and log of our work will be kept and this will involve a photographic record. Outdoor activities may involve planting trees, shrubs, flowers and bulbs, path work or cutting back overgrown shrubbery. We will take part in environmental games and educational activities which will aid our understanding of the environment and sustainability education. The amount of hours spent on these tasks will determine what awards you will receive at the end of the course. This course will involve working with our feeder primary schools where you have the opportunity to teach nature lessons.

Homework

Keeping the log book up to date will be essential. Students will also be expected to conduct research projects in school and as homework on John Muir, The John Muir Trust’s work and local community neighbourhood priorities which involve creating green spaces in communities.

Assessment Approaches

Up to date log book. Meeting John Muir Award Criteria for each of the four challenges: Discover, Explore, Conserve and Share experiences of our work. Planning and organising the activities will also count towards award hours. Sharing our work will involve publicising our projects in national and local newsletters and publications.

Further Details

There will be an emphasis on leadership skills within this course and you will be trained on how to deliver the John Muir Awards in an educational establishment such as schools, college, university or community group. Senior students who have completed their John Muir Awards have found them to be very enjoyable and extremely valuable for their personal development skills. These experiences and the skills learned were referred to in student UCAS, college and work applications.