Ullapool High School on the Summer Isles
In June of 2013 I was invited by Ullapool High School to join their S2 pupils on a John Muir Award experience on Tanera Mor, the Summer Isles.
The John Muir Award is given to young people who discover, explore and learn ways of conserving the environment. One other important part of that experience is finding a way of sharing their learning and experience with others and so I went along to help the group do just that.
Over the course of four days the pupils explored the island and the waters around it, by walking, beach-combing, kayaking and more. I encouraged them to keep a 'memory journal', which had the title of "A Sense of Tanera". This was essentially a notebook, with sketches and other impressions gained as they experienced the life of the island through using all of their senses.
Back at base camp, they transferred these notes into a memory map of the island, each pupil using their own language, in terms of words, marks and colours, to create a visual impression of their unique experience of the trip. Running alongside this, they also made a giant map of the island, to record the group experience. Each made a paper canoe, covered with words and pictures of their water-bourne experience, which they added to the waters which they had coloured on the giant map. It was all good fun and made a brilliant display that they could share with parents and other pupils when they got back to school.
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