They flash upon that inward eye which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.

One of the members of the teaching team was involved in an ambitious project with the Working with Communities class. What follows is an outline at the start of the project and a reflective piece of writing at the end of the project. The students were enrolled on the Level 6 Core Skills (Communication) Unit which is at Higher level on the SCQF scale.

Working With Communities (Communication)

Planned Activities

Project: Bulb planting

Introductory (practical) activities

·         Participatory engagement outline/exercises

·         Videos – The Estate We Are In  (General thinking about changing attitudes, making a difference to a community)

·         Slides – previous planting projects

·         Site visit

Reading activities

·         General articles about community projects/volunteering activities

·         A simple constitution

·         Websites: funding sources (How to find the money)

·         Grant application forms

·         Sample letters

·         Sample report

·         Reading Assessment (Article on volunteering)

Writing

·         Letter to College Innovation Fund asking for support (£1500)

·         Letter to wholesale operator, Makro (Alan Laing), explaining project, asking for support.

·         Letter to Council Recreation Dept (Douglas Cruikshank) as above.

·         (If required) letter to Environmental Group (GreenFerry) asking to borrow equipment

·         H-diagram (to be designed) for a participatory event (public survey work)

·         Funding application forms (completed exemplar)

·         Poster advertising the event

·         Press release/article for local paper publicising the event

·         Risk assessment

·         Preparation for leadership/working in a team (planning forms)

·         Report/review of the event for your funder (Summative)

Speaking

·         Preparation: How to give instructions (prep for planting day)

·         Sample/practice talks

·         Speaking Assessment: Give a talk about a potential funder, types of project they fund, funding criteria, case study of a successful project etc.

Daffodil Planting Project – Final report - student exemplar

Introduction

As part of Communication Class, Joyce Faulkner, our class tutor arranged for our class, “Working with Communities” to take part in an environmental project . This project initially involved planting daffodils around the college grounds, and in the grounds outside Makro Cash and Carry. Joyce had provisionally made arrangements  for this, having spoken to Alan Lang at Makro.

To get inspiration, the class watched a series of videos called “The Estate That We’re in”. These were about a woman called Silla who lived in an estate in London which was run down and needed lots of work done on it. Silla become involved with the clean up and revamp of her estate with the help of the local community and the local council.  This documentary was to inspire the students, to make them realised that you can get things done, even in difficult circumstances.

Joyce herself also had a lot of experience in managing environmental projects in her local area, and she showed the class slides of what her environmental group had done in South Queensferry.  This includes slides showing a previous daffodil project that had taken place with local school children.  Again, Joyce showed the class these slides to inspire us.

Joyce also gave out articles on the subject of volunteering, the benefits of volunteering, working with volunteers, and how volunteering can enhance a student’s CV.  We used these as assessments for Communication.

Finally, she gave the class a list of tasks she had prepared, that needed to be done to make our project a success.

Planning and prepration

As a class, we had we did not have much of an input into the choice of project, as Joyce had created the course in advance.  So, it was already decided that the daffodil planting would take place on the 22^nd of November 2010.  Some of the class were unhappy that they didn’t have a say in the project.

We also looked at a model constitution, and discussed how volunteer groups got set up.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to constitute and handle our own money. 

Funding

We started out by looking at funding forms and researching various sources.  This led to a set of class talks where everyone chose a different funder to present.  Joyce showed us some examples of completed application forms for projects she had been involved in, and explained about match funding.

Our next job as a class was to write the letters either to the Innovation Fund, or to Makro or to the Edinburgh City Council to ask for permission and support.

Some students in the class also did the costing for the clothing and equipment we needed to complete the project.

I wrote a formal letter to Craig Wilson, the Vice Principal of Stevenson College, to ask for funding for the project from the Innovation Fund.   We requested £1500, which was more than we really needed, so that we knew that we would have enough money for the project.  As well as my letter, there were letters from others in the class.

Some students also wrote a second letter to Alan Lang asking if we could do the planting in the grounds of Makro.   Joyce on sent all letters to the relevant people.  

Advertising and Publicity

When all the letters were sent, students began to write up press releases, and Joyce sent these to a local paper at Western Hailes.  We got their address from the internet.  Unfortunately these were returned as the paper was no longer there, so it was decided that the College newspaper should print an article about the event instead, and Joyce sent one of the student’s press releases to the Marketing Department.  They published this in the staff newsletter, SCEne.

The event was also publicised by posters which we designed ourselves, which were put up in classrooms of the CPCs, asking if anyone would like to help with the project, and telling them what was happening and when.  Joyce also spoke to other tutors.

Tools and Equipment

The list of tools and equipment was made up by a group of students from the class, and these were bought by Joyce and someone from the finance department who went out one afternoon to B&Q as there was a special event on at the time with 15% off.   With this discount, there was a saving of £100. Later on, Joyce ordered wellies for the project as well.

Site Visit

One week before the event was due to take place the whole class went outside to do a site visit of the area we would be planting in.   We decided we would not be planting in the grounds of Makro as they hadn’t got back to us in time to make arrangements.

So, instead of planting around Makros, it was decided that we would plant the bulbs only in the college grounds.  When we tested the ground we found that some sections were not suitable for planting, so we left out those areas.  Joyce then demonstrated how to the bulbs should be planted in the correct way.

It was then decided who would be doing which section of the grounds and who we would be working with.  Each member from our class would pair up with a College Preparation Student.  Leadership forms were completed so that the student leaders of each group knew what they had to do with their CPC students next week.

Planting Day

Unfortunately I was not able to make it in to college that day as my daughter was unwell and I had no other childcare for her.

However I heard from the other members of my class that there was a bit of confusion at the start as too many CPC students turned up to help.  This meant there were not enough jackets to go around for everyone. The weather was also bad (it was raining) so not everyone had weatherproof clothing.

Some students got on well with their CPC partners and learned to direct them, but some of the CPCs had not listened well to what they were instructed to do, and as a result of this they hadn’t planted the bulbs properly – too many together, planted on top of each other etc.  

On the positive side, the planting eventually went ahead as planned, and 2000 bulbs were planted. Three other teachers turned out to help too.

The whole event was also filmed by college students for Stevenson TV, and photographs were taken for the college magazine.

After the planting itself, Joyce thanked everyone for their help, and we were given a lunch vouchers to use in the college canteen as a reward for our efforts.   

Conclusion

In the end all the 2000 bulbs were planted.   And, from what I have been told, everyone enjoyed the experience once the initial confusion of having more students than we were expecting.

We had also seen how a whole project was managed from start to finish.

Finally, I think that too much was done for us previous to us getting told about the project.  We did not think that it was fair that we had no input in at all in the decision. However, Joyce explained that this was because the course was written in advance and everything had to be fitted in.

Finances

This project was completed within the budget that we had from the Innovation Fund.  We spent £1126.43 in total  and there was also a reminder of £373.57.  This was because Joyce had been able to borrow jackets from her environmental group instead of buying them.

I think that the remainder of the money should be used for our other class, “Self in Society”  as we are going on a residential weekend with outdoor team-building activities and we still need to have outdoor clothing.   Any new jackets we buy could also be used for students on projects next year. 

Postscript (from Joyce Faulkner, 8 March 2011)

It turns out that the students’ residential weekend had to be cancelled due to snow.  The class are now planning a one-day team building activity as part of their “Self and Society” Unit.  They would now prefer to use the remainder of the money for a “Go Ape” outing in Beecraigs Park.    

Tutor, Graham Zajac, is co-ordinating this event, and students, who are planning it, would appreciate the financial support.