Ö÷²¥´óÐã

I'm down in London today for some training - and this got me thinking about how getting out of the office for a couple of days, and away from Glasgow, is conducive to me learning more. Taking people out of their usual working environment does blow away the cobwebs, and this freshness can really bring about new ideas or approaches.

This led to me wondering about our Outreach programmes - they could just be the most important things we do. The initiatives we're currently running are as varied as our other output, focus on active learning and encourage learners to step away from the desk, the classroom and the school. The very real possibility is, of course, that they will develop new ways of thinking or approaching learning that they can translate back into their classroom experience.

Breathing Places encourages a focus on the outdoors; regenerating wasteland and developing environmental awareness. This ties in very well with the project, but more widely can mean a real whole school approach to - something I'll be blogging about in more detail in the coming weeks. Ö÷²¥´óÐã Blast, a UK-wide project offers the chance to develop creativity, and to learn more about the expressive arts.

If you can't take the kids out of the classroom - well, why would you want to in this weather? - transform your usual learning space into something else. Off by Heart**, the new poetry competition means that all the world's a stage, including your gym or dinner hall. By signing up for even one of these projects, teachers are giving their pupils experiences which can impact positively on all aspects of their learning - they have the '' stamped all over them! changes the classroom into a newsroom with the help of Ö÷²¥´óÐã mentors for the day, encouraging confident individuals, effective contributors, responsible citizens and successful learners - watch how scared their mentors are after watching their confident performances in front of camera. The four capacities come from experiencing many different kinds of learning - whether that is remembering and practising a poem by heart for participation in a contest, or transforming a disused patch of ground into a green space that can be used by the community.

Alternatively, come on over to our place. Our LAB (Learn@Ö÷²¥´óÐã Scotland) space is now also proving a real success. Groups from early primary learners, through to a women writers' group, have come in to our building in Glasgow to make films with our team, Johanna and LJ. I took part in a 'Learning Lunch' at The LAB recently, where the very patient LJ showed me and some others in the Learning team how to make short animated films. Great fun - though I have to say that our efforts were not as good as the groups who've come in to use the space! Check their videos out on The LAB website. You can bring your class in here to make films too - they can work on a 'news report' about their school, a documentary, a drama - your class are the directors, the producers and scriptwriters.

So, I'm urging you take your classes out - or, make the classroom different for them. Learn poems, become news anchors for the day, make animated films, or build bird feeders for the playground. Our Outreach site gives lots of ideas, so it's a good place to start; but just use your imagination - you could plant Christmas trees with your class before the holidays. I'm looking forward to learning something new, somewhere new this week - I hope you will all 'get out' and learn something fresh too. Send us your class's out-and-about stories, and don't forget to have a good look around the site and let us know what you think.

** The closing date for registration for Off By Heart is 19th December - so there's not long left to get your school signed up!