Message from FSC CEO Mark Castle
Supporting you in lockdown learning and beyond
As the UK nations set out their plans to come out of lockdown, we welcome the national focus on education and prioritising the need to help learners catch up. It’s also good to see that the benefits of being outdoors and letting fresh air in are being recognised and encouraged.
Here at FSC we are carefully working through the guidance to assess how and when we can start to fully reopen and offer the inspirational first hand education experiences that I know you have missed.
We are still waiting for the results of a review of the schools guidance which currently still advises against school trips and we are in touch with customers who have bookings with us.
In the meantime, rest assured that FSC is still able to support teachers and help schools cover the curriculum.
We have a wide range of online resources available to help, from free virtual fieldwork sessions to teacher training sessions and comprehensive digital packages covering fieldwork content where face to face learning is not currently possible.
Since the launch of our inspiring #FieldworkLive initiative in April 2020 over 400,000 students have taken part. We have built on this to develop digital teaching packages where FSC tutors cover whole topics online, providing valuable content for remote teaching. Hundreds of schools have been using them successfully since September 2020.
We can also help schools who want to book in trips with us, allowing children to enrich their learning. They can get outdoors, play and reconnect with their peers as they rebuild their social and team working skills. There isn’t a lesson in the school day that can’t be enriched by connecting to nature, or a subject in the curriculum that can’t be enhanced by outdoor learning.
In February we added #primarynaturelive which has more free lessons and resources to help learning from home based on activities children can do in their gardens or local green space. Our tutors lead sessions on pond dipping, brilliant birds, shelter building and nature walks to help learners connected to nature.
We are still looking ahead to hopefully much brighter times to come and I am really looking forward to welcoming you back to our centres as soon as we can.
Mark Castle – FSC CEO
See all our Resources and Ideas to provide support during the pandemic
