3rd year outdoor projects: George Watson's College

In 2006, a dozen trips were organised, encompassing locations as diverse as Sutherland, Cairngorms, Dumfries and Galloway, Glencoe, Glen Nevis, Kintail, Canna and Muck, Durness, Handa Island, the Isle of Rum and Braemar. The trips all included some kind of outdoor project, such as a wildlife survey, beach clean-up or litter sweep.

The John Muir Award

The integration of the John Muir Award to the planning of the projects added a structure to all the trips. The Award encourages people of all ages and backgrounds to discover wild places (which can be remote, or close to home such as school grounds or town parks), actively explore them, do something to conserve them, and share these experiences. Pupils used a wide range of activities to get to know their locations, from camping, walking, sailing and canoeing, to looking at land use and access issues, monitoring flora and fauna, and comparing different environments encountered.