With the heat of the summer holidays gently cooling, the start of the Autumn term began. The tasks and daily errands of my role as Business Manager varies so widely, but that’s all part of the fun. September is always a busy time for me, as the bookkeeper there’s a whole load of numbers to […]
...On a walk to a lake with a young person who was using a camera for the first time, excitedly crouching, zooming, snapping away. He photographed cow parsley, a passing puppy, daisies, obliging moorhens, oblivious ducks, bracket fungi, all sorts of colourful delights. On approaching the water we could see roaming dragonflies, too far away […]
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When the humans are away the animals can relax! Here are some pictures and videos from our wildlife cameras from the summer break.
...Alternative Provision updates in Plymouth We look forward to a busy start to the new school year at Taleblazers. As we continue to grow and develop, we expect a dynamic period ahead. We have a new tutor, Kara, joining James as we expand our Alternative Provision in Plymouth and SE Cornwall. Kara has considerable experience, […]
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At Wednesday’s Imagination Station we had a visit from Sarah and Heather from the Seal Project! This was a really inspiring evening and Sarah shared lots of her knowledge and experience with us all. We learned about seal behaviour, how to identify different seals and the threats caused by disturbance and entanglement. We also had […]
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At our Imagination Station this week we had a visit from Sarah Matthews of Dolphin Zone. Sarah shared her story of how she got into conservation and we loved hearing her enthusiasm and knowledge. The highlight for many of the children though was going out onto the lawn and split into two teams for a […]
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We have just finished our first week of holiday clubs with our awesome group of young people! We met at Parkfield House on Monday for a great day of ‘get to know you’ fun, with sport and nature games outside and plenty of colouring and Lego indoors for those who preferred things a bit more […]
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“An artist is not a special kind of person but every person is a special kind of artist” – Hakim Bey. I love everything about the arts, I love viewing, watching and observing how people express their creative sides. From dance, music, drama, painting, creative writing, spoken word poetry, storytelling, sculpting, crafting, animation. Arts Organisations […]
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Earthworks last Saturday saw us focusing on the insect world, namely butterflies. Butterfly numbers are in decline and year on year there numbers seem to drop. Butterfly Conservation hold a Big Butterfly Count every July to get a wider picture of butterfly numbers. It is very easy to follow and you can count from your […]
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We have now set up a booking page for the Imagination Stations on our hub over at Eequ.All you need to do to confirm your place is to go to the link below and enter your details: https://eequ.org/book/imagination-station-at-peoples-parkfield-with-taleblazers-33409 Our first session is next Friday 17th with Safer Sustainable Travel Torbay, hope you can make it!
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We are really pleased to be working with some exciting partners on the Imagination Stations project and we now have our initial sessions scheduled! We have chosen our initial partners because they are inspiring local environmentalists who have amazing stories to tell, and they are all having a huge impact. We hope that by sharing […]
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We are absolutely delighted that we have been commissioned by People’s Parkfield to set up Torbay’s first Imagination Station at Parkfield! Jo Morrell from Imagine This has written a great post to highlight what it’s all about: We are delighted to be joined in the project team by Ivy Hodgson-Hunt who was one of the […]
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For more information about this post, please email James O’Connell, Provision Co-ordinator (Plymouth) at james@taleblazers.org.uk Taleblazers is a community interest company that seeks to improve people’s lives by connecting them with folklore, storytelling, nature and the great outdoors. We do this through school workshops, community projects, programmes for young people with special educational needs and […]
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Last Saturday saw our May Earthworks and this time we were looking at plant life in the woods. Why look at plant life? Well, we need to create base line surveys of the species that we have in the woodlands so that we can monitor what happens over time. What changes, what plants die back, […]
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Planting Trees is something that you do for your great great grandchildren. It won’t be within your lifetime you see that tree reach maturity. In the right conditions and given time that tree could become colossal and why wouldn’t you gift that to future generations? Our woodland at Treacle Valley has a lot of ash trees and sadly these trees need to be felled. We had a handful of them taken […]
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Sadly, today was the final day that we worked with our amazing group at Torquay Academy. They have achieved so much during their time with us and today gave us an opportunity to reflect on what they had done and learned. Today’s session was to share their achievements and learning and the group worked on […]
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This weekend, our students headed over to Berry Head for their second active conservation day. After we parked up, we hurried over to the headland because Sarah Matthews from DolphinZone was waiting for us and there was a pod of common dolphins offshore! This was incredibly exciting and Sarah was able to tell us all […]
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For the last two weeks the group have been hard at work creating a wildflower meadow in the school grounds. Its right by the headteacher’s parking space so we hope that in the summer Mr Margetts will be welcomed to school with a lovely display! More importantly, the meadow and bug boxes will provide a […]
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Today was a wonderful day where our students took part in some practical conservation at Berry Head! First of all we made our way to a patch of ground where we would be clearing gorse to make a better habitat for the local invertebrates. The group was shown how to use secateurs, loppers and bow […]
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We have had a really busy couple of weeks on the project! Amy and Eve from Life on Edge brought in a load of materials and we have all supported the group in making some bug boxes. We had a demonstration piece and along with school teaching staff we’ve worked to put together the bug […]
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The first part of the Life on the Edge project is an educational element where the group are finding out about the south Devon coast and why it is special. We’ve used information sheets from LotE as information stations and the group have circulated with a time limit to gather as much information as they […]
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This week we have welcomed a group of Ukrainian children to Treacle Valley for one of our infamous adventures! The children came to us on Monday and Tuesday for two days of outdoor activities. We built dens in the woods, swung around on hammocks and played loads of outdoor games including Swedish Kubb! The children […]
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These are some of the activities we have participated in as part of our John Muir Award this year. Our sessions have had a profound impact on the woodland, encouraging wildlife and allowing more young people to safely access the wood.
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Job Title Alternative Education Tutor Job Description Alternative Education tutors support our young people by planning, delivering and evaluating 1-1 and small group sessions. The programmes we run incorporate activities such as art, gardening, science, environmental education, forest/beach school and bushcraft, with an outdoor element always at the heart of the programme. They are differentiated […]
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We take our obligations as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company very seriously. Being a CIC means the directors of the company do not benefit personally from the success of the business; any profits that the company ultimately makes will benefit the wider community and, more specifically, the organisation named in our ‘asset lock’. In our […]
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We’re delighted to be able to announce a pilot project for families of children with SEND, which we will be running every Thursday morning from 18th January until 28th March 2024. We’ve called it the ACE Project because it brings together three things that we love at Taleblazers – art, craft and the environment. This […]
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Come work for us! Are you passionate about the natural world, history, heritage and arts? Are you able to communicate your passion to young people, particularly those who are disengaged from mainstream education? Can you inspire people to see the world with fresh perspectives? If so, get in touch! Alternative Education Tutor (Art, Bushcraft, or […]
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This summer, we will be hosting two options for HAF programmes for children based in Torbay and surrounding areas: a Treacle Valley wilderness adventure, and games and play at the ROC centre in Chelston, Torquay. Taleblazers takes pride in being a recognised provider of the Torbay Council’s Healthy Holidays (HAF) scheme. These free school holiday […]
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