Events & Activities
Listed events are not necessarily organised by Schoolhouse. If you would like your event listed please contact Schoolhouse.
14/15/16 May 2010 – Schoolhouse camping weekend, Beecraigs Country Park
Following on from the success of the residential weekend at New Lanark and due to popular demand, Schoolhouse is organising another weekend event for families, this time camping at Beecraigs Country Park.
Beecraigs is located 3.2km. (2 miles) south of historic Linlithgow town, midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, in the scenic Bathgate Hills. It has a dedicated camping area that we have booked the sole use of for Friday 14th May from 2pm to Sunday 16th May at 11am. The cost for the weekend will be £20 per family and should be paid at time of booking. There will be a limited number of places due to the size of the site.
The camping area is fenced and is therefore traffic free, however the car park is adjoining so not far to carry camping equipment. There are static BBQ pits around the car park area for those who wish to use them. Individual families are responsible for their own meals.
Entry to Beecraigs Country Park itself is free and there are lots of pleasant woodland walks and circular walks around a loch. In 1977 a red deer herd was established and is now maintained as a visitor attraction. It is possible to view the deer from raised platforms and from the walkways through the fields. As the calves can be born from April/May onwards it may be possible for us to see young calves during the weekend.
There is plenty of opportunity for off road cycling and there is an adventure play area and trim course within easy walking distance of the camping area.
Karen, the Schoolhouse events co-ordinator, has been in touch with Historic Scotland’s Linlithgow Palace and arranged a free education visit for the Friday afternoon at 14.00 hours. A Primary 7 guide from the local Primary School will be available to show us around the site.
The Ranger Service at Beecraigs is arranging a nocturnal walk at about 8.30pm on the Friday night at a cost of £3 per adult and £2 per child and then on the Saturday morning they will be running a further woodland/shelter building activity again at a cost of £3 per adult and £2 per child
There are a number of outdoor activities offered at the Park from Field Archery to Gorge Scrambling to a “Go Ape high wire forest adventure” but if folk are interested in these activities they need to be organised by individual families. Likewise, any one interested in fishing will also need to organise that for themselves.
If you wish to book a place for your family, please contact Karen with details of who will be coming, with ages ( for the children!) and details of whether you wish to participate in the Linlithgow Place visit, nocturnal walk and/or woodland/shelter building activity. Then please send full payment for both camping and the activities (cheques payable to Schoolhouse HEA) to:
Schoolhouse Home Education Association
PO Box 18044
Glenrothes
Fife KY7 9AD
If anyone is keen to come but would rather come with a caravan then these will need to located in an area a short distance from the tent area and will need to be booked independently with the Country Park. However monies for the activities will still need to be sent to Schoolhouse.
SCHOOLHOUSE HAS MADE THIS SOLE-USE BOOKING IN ORDER TO OFFER FAMILIES THE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET OTHER HOME EDUCATORS AND TO ALLOW THEM TO TAKE PART IN SOME SHARED ACTIVITIES. ATTENDEES SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN CHILDREN AT ALL TIMES AND THAT SCHOOLHOUSE MAY NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY INJURY OR DAMAGE SUSTAINED WHILST ATTENDING THE CAMP.
3/5/5/7/8 April 2010 – Angus Arts Puppet Festival
Stracathro Hall, Inchbare (nr Brechin)
All tickets and information from Angus Arts 01356 670 304 / 648 669
Email: angus.arts@btinternet.com and vcaspin@aol.com
31 March - Scottish Parliament visit
More details here.
6 March 2010 – Glasgow Steiner School Open Day
More details here.
15/16/17 January 2010 – Schoolhouse New Lanark weekend
This event is now fully booked. Please contact Schoolhouse if you want to join a waiting list in the event of a cancellation.
Schoolhouse is arranging a residential weekend at the Scottish Youth Hostel Association Hostel at New Lanark from 15/17 January 2010. The weekend is a self catering weekend and is primarily to offer members the opportunity to meet other home educating families in an informal and beautiful setting.
The hostel is situated in the 200 year old Conservation Village of New Lanark and is surrounded by woodland.
We have rented the whole hostel and as such have spaces for 60 people. The accommodation comprises two 6-bedded rooms, one 5-bedded room, eight 4-bedded rooms and six 2-bedded rooms. There is a fully equipped kitchen and the dinning room seats 30 with a “spill over” common room with seating for another 30. On the first floor there is a TV room.
We have priced the rooms as follows:
6 bedded X2 at £81.00 for the weekend
5 bedded X1 at £67.50 for the weekend
4 bedded X8 at £54.00 for the weekend
2 bedded X6 at £27.00 for the weekend
The loose plan is that folk will arrive anytime after 5pm on the Friday.
On Saturday we have arranged discounted rates for the New Lanark Centre of £3 per child and £4 per adult (Payable on the day). The pass allows entry into all areas of the Centre except the Interactive Gallery which is aimed at younger children and would cost £3 per child and £4 per adult. The New Lanark Centre has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and is a beautifully restored 18th century cotton mill village.The village first rose to fame when Robert Owen was mill manager from 1800-1835. Owen transformed life in New Lanark with ideas and opportunities which were at least a hundred years ahead of their time. Child labour and corporal punishment were abolished, and villagers were provided with decent homes, schools and evening classes, free health care, and affordable food.The New Lanark Centre could take a full day to explore with the ticket including access to the “Annie McLeod Experience” ride, the Millworker’s house, Robert Owen’s School for children, the village shop etc.
The Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Falls of Clyde Nature Reserve is also within walking distance of the hostel . From New Lanark you can enjoy beautiful riverside walks through the Reserve, following in the footsteps of the many poets and painters including Wordsworth and Turner. There are three waterfalls upstream from New Lanark lying on the Clyde Walkway: Dundaff Linn (3 metres) is the closest to the village. Corra Linn (28 metres) is about 20-25 minutes walk, and Bonnington Linn (11 metres) about 30-45 minutes walk. The Falls of Clyde Visitor Centre ( cost £2 per adult, £1 per children, SWT memebers free) and “Foragers” shop is open from 12 noon to 4pm and would make an interesting visit on the Sunday afternoon after we have all completed the tidying and vacating of the Hostel at noon on the Sunday.
There is also a facility to purchase day passes for the Leisure Centre next door to the hostel for £5 each or £5.50 for use of gym equipment as well. There is a hotel within the new Lanark Centre that serves bar food or has a posh restaurant.
To check room availability please contact Schoolhouse.
To secure places for the weekend please send details of the number and ages of all occupants, your address and contact details and a cheque payable to Schoolhouse Home Education Association for the full amount of the appropriate room costs to:
Schoolhouse Home Education Association
PO Box 18044
Glenrothes
Fife KY7 9AD
Rooms will be allocated on a first come first served basis. ATTENDEES SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN CHILDREN AT ALL TIMES.
12/13/14 September 2008 – Schoolhouse Conference
Schoolhouse is delighted to confirm that we are going ahead with our planned conference to celebrate International Freedom in Education Day. The event will take place in Arbroath, Angus, over the weekend of 12th/13th/14th September 2008.
We are all especially delighted to announce that John Taylor Gatto has agreed to be our keynote speaker, with other speakers to be confirmed shortly.
A formal conference for individuals and public, private and voluntary sector representatives will run alongside a more family orientated gathering on the Fr iday, while an informal conference for families and interested individuals will run throughout Saturday and on Sunday morning.
We will be teaming up with local charity Angus Arts (run by home educators) to put together an exciting and varied programme of activities. We also hope to secure assistance from members of the Arbroath PageantSociety to cover the historical perspective.
Coincidentally, today (6 April) happens to be the 688th anniversary of the signing of the Declarationof Arbroath.
“Given at Arbroath Abbey on the sixth day of April AD 1320, the Declaration of Arbroath was seminal in its eloquent plea for the liberty of man. It affirmed Scotland’s Nobles’ allegiance to Robert the Bruce as their king and declared the right of the Scottish nation to self-determination. This created a tradition in the Scottish understanding of rights which reached its peak in the Scottish Enlightenment, and the philosophers of the eighteenth century who set the tone for our modern understanding of human rights. Many now see it as a precursor to the US Constitution and the UN Declaration of Human Rights.” http://www.angusahead.com/VisitAngus/AboutAngus/History.asp
All who have already expressed an interest in attending the conference will be sent full details as soon as they are available. We would ask you to please bear with us a little longer while these are finalised as we have only just received confirmation of the required top-up funding for this event and there is still some number crunching to do.
Please email media@schoolhouse.org.uk if you wish to be added to the mailing list for updates.
We look forward to welcoming home educators and all those with an interest in education to this international celebration of diversity and freedom in education.
The Schoolhouse Management Committee
