We had a wonderful time at the ‘Heart of PLACE’ conference in the Lake District

This celebratory day was put on by Cumbria DEC in partnership with colleagues from SEVER, SOSNA and DEED. Each partner shared elements of their PLACE project approach – Philosophy 4 Children, Questing, Natural and Therapeutic Gardening and Active Local Citizenship and all 30 participants seemed to have a great day!

“Thank you and all involved for a great course. I was inspired and we did a sound map outside for our music lesson (although it was hampered by a Y6 football kickabout after their lesson and some Y3s running about, plus I had both classes so 60 children!!) but we did music sound maps, looking at texture and layers, pitch and proximity of sounds. I'm glad to get stuck in straight away.”

Mrs Smith, Ashfield Junior School sharing the impact of our ‘Heart of PLACE’ conference in Kendal last week.

This PLACE project sadly comes to a close in July, so we are busy gathering up the impact of our work, report writing and disseminating the outcomes widely. The PLACE website now hosts the Padlet, which is full of ideas, activities and resources; The Learning Guide; and the Toolkit, which is packed with case studies of the amazing work the schools have done across Czech Republic, Slovakia, Cumbria and Dorset/Wiltshire. Do take a look and if you have ideas for new projects and potential funding let us know!