Forest School comes to Rowntree Park

Posted: July 4, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Blog, Events, Very Young Friends, Young Friends | Leave a comment

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We are excited to announce that Forest School sessions for children are coming to Rowntree Park this Autumn, starting on Friday 13th of September. Places are strictly limited and must be booked in advance.

Magical moments being nurtured in nature

It is so important for children, and adults, to spend time outdoors in nature. Forest school is more than just sessions outdoors.  It is a specialised approach that is learner centred and aims to promote the holistic development of the child.  Through hands-on practical learning, Forest school fosters resilience, confidence, self-esteem, independence and creativity and encourages children to take risks within a supportive learning environment set within nature.

Sessions will include: Den building, foraging, campfire cooking, mini-beast hunts, fire lighting, woodland crafts, storytelling and natural paint making and more – all run by  Christine, our Very Young Friends group leader, who has taken her official training to be able to offer these amazing sessions that are exceptional value for money.

Rowntree Park Forest School will be themed around a nature topic but essentially child-led so they will evolve naturally according to individual children’s interests and abilities.  There will be lots of time for free play and exploration of the individual’s interests as well as focused activities.

Time to develop, connect and grow

Forest School’s ethos recommends a range of continuous sessions rather than one-off ad hoc sessions, therefore we are offering a six-week course aimed at preschoolers (2-5 year olds).  Homeschoolers are also welcome.  The six-week block begins on Friday 13th of September and lasts session is Friday 25th of October (see note below). Each session runs from 10am-12pm.

Due to the nature of the activities, places are strictly limited and must be booked in advance. Parents stay and engage with their children and learning at the sessions – fun, relaxing, mindfulness for all!

UPDATE – this first set of sessions sold out in just a week.  Therefore if you are interested in hearing about future sessions, please email us and you will be the first to hear about any future dates.  Contact our volunteer abigail at membership@rowntreepark.org.uk  who handles admin/bookings.

Members – £36 Non Members – £42
Forest School 6 week sessions – 13/9, 20/9, 4/10,11/10, 18/10, 25/10

(note no session on 27/9)

 SOLD OUT SOLD OUT

Save money on the sessions AND help your local park?

You can become a member of Friends of Rowntree Park for just £5 a year per household.  For this, you get discounts at our events, monthly newsletters, 10% off in the cafe for the year whilst helping support our volunteer work in maintaining and improving Rowntree Park.  You can join here:

http://www.rowntreepark.org.uk/membership

If you would like further details about membership or Forest School sessions then please get in contact with Abigail at membership@rowntreepark.org.uk

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Wild Life Day

Posted: May 4, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Blog, Events, Very Young Friends, Wildlife, Young Friends | Leave a comment

We care about our local wildlife and know you do too!  The park has a vibrant mix of birds, animals and insects and we love them all!  Come along to our Wild Life Day in Rowntree Park to find out more about the types of wildlife we have in the park and engage with our range of family-friendly activities.

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The event will run between 12-3pm on Sunday 9th of June and is free to attend.  We have a range of groups coming with information and activities including:

  • Owl adventures who will run some displays
  • Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
  • Butterfly conservation trust 
  • St Nicks 
  • Bumblebee conservation trust
  • The conservation volunteers [TCV]
  • RSPB
  • East Yorkshire Bat Group 
  • Askham Bryan wildlife and conservation park
  • Hedgehog group
  • King of the Birds Trail
  • More TBC

There will be a range of ‘drop-in’ children’s activities including (minimal charges may apply):

  • Wild Art
  • Bee finger puppets
  • Bee walk
  • Bird feeder making
  • More TBC

In addition, we are running Pond Dipping sessions*.  The Pond Dipping sessions need booking in advance as numbers are strictly limited for this popular event:

BUY

Members Ticket – £2 Non Members ticket – £3
12pm-12.45pm SOLD OUT SOLD OUT
1pm-1.45pm SOLD OUT BUY

*Parents/careers are expected to stay with their children at all times, but tickets are only needed for the children involved in the event.  Most suited to 2-13-year-olds (approx)

There is no physical ticket.  You have your Paypal receipt and we have a list of names.  We will email you a few days before the event with details on where and when to meet.

The main event will take place on the large field near the playparks.   This event has been organised by Friend of Rowntree Park.  We are a group of volunteers who care about the park and community.  The event is non-profit making and any money made/donated goes back into the park.  We appreciate your support and know you share our love of the park and its wildlife.

Please see our Facebook events page for updates.

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Important information

Park location – YO23 1JQ

There is a cafe on site run by York Explore (with toilets) and also a toilet block near our location.  It is advised to bring a picnic as the cafe may be very busy.  Alternatively, Bishopthorpe Rd shops are nearby for food and Cycle Heaven cafe (across the Millenium Bridge) – all within 5 mins walk.

The carpark at the park is small and there are council parking charges.  You can walk to the park from town (15 mins) or get a Bus to Bishopthorpe Rd.  You can access the park from Bishopthorpe road via Clementhorpe, Vine Street, Charlton Street, Richardson Street, Cameron Grove, and Butcher Terrace.  In addition, across the Millennium Bridge from Fulford.

If any other wildlife-related groups are interested in being involved, or you require further information – contact Ruth: ruthphillips19@hotmail.com

 

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Doodling with Mister Dills

Posted: January 12, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Blog, Events, Young Friends | Leave a comment

Young Friends of Rowntree Park – Art Event

Mr Dills loves to doodle, and if you do too – he’d love you to join him in this art session hosted at Rowntree Park Reading Cafe on Sunday 24th of February 10am-11am  and a second session at 11.30-12.30 the same day.
 
Mr Dills is a local artist and children’s book illustrator who wowed all the children in his session last year when he showed them how easy, and fun, it can be to draw! In this session, there will be a chance to create your own Pokemon character and trading card amongst top tips for drawing and design.

 

 
The session is aimed at children aged 6-10 years of age (approx) and will be approximately 1 hour. Children remain the responsibility of their parents/carers through the session, but whilst they draw and create – you can chat and eat cake!
(NB-It is possible the session may run over slightly but no longer than 11.30am).
 
The cost of the session is £4 per child for Friends of Rowntree Park members and £5 for non-members.
If you’d like to become a member it is only £5 per year for the household – as well as helping our volunteer work in maintaining and improving the park, you also get 10% off at the cafe for the year – perfect! Join today – click here
Mr Dills is a firm supporter of the Friends of Rowntree Park and will also be displaying some of his illustrative work based on the park, and York in general at the Reading Cafe over the coming months and he has also agreed to help us with some larger art in the park itself – what a guy!
Doodling with Mister Dills – children’s art workshop Sunday 24th February 10-11am SOLD OUT
Doodling with Mister Dills – children’s art workshop Sunday 24th February 11.30am-12.30pm SOLD OUT

* Non-members ticket links will become live on Jan 15th.  Can’t wait? Become a member today using the link below and then buy a member’s ticket.http://www.rowntreepark.org.uk/membership

Why join the Friends of Rowntree Park?
You can support the Friends of Rowntree Park for only £5  year per household.  Your money goes toward our volunteers’ work in maintaining and improving the park, as well as running community events.  You also get monthly newsletters, priority booking/discount to our events and 10% off in the cafe for the year. Join here.

 

You can see more of Mr Dill’s work on Instagram and Facebook

Please note – Tickets cannot be refunded but if you cannot come/sell your ticket on please let us know in advance.
Email – membership@rowntreepark.org.uk

 

 

Boat Making!

Posted: May 31, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Blog, Young Friends | Leave a comment

It’s been a wonderful half term in the park – glorious weather, lots of people out and about, and the Young Friends of Rowntree Park hosted a ‘Boat Making’ activity!

Making the most of our park recycling, our young engineers set to work trying to create crafts that float.  It was wonderful to see the problem solving and creativity that went on.  Some fantastic designs and ideas – some more practical than others!  Our Young Friends tested their boats out and watched to see if they floated.  It was fantastic to see some resilient builders who assessed why their boats were not working as they hoped, and went back to the creation station to remedy this and modify their designs.

This event was run by our ‘Young Friend’ volunteers Abigail, Christine and Ruth.  Over 60 children came and all the money raised will go back into the park.

The next Young Friends event is Den Building on Saturday the 2nd of June, followed by The Very Young Friends (0-5-year-olds) monthly meet up on Thursday 7th of June at 10am where they will be learning all about bees!  All activities designed and organised by the Young Friends of Rowntree park are created for the whole family to get involved. Please see Facebook for up to date information on planned events.

All Young Friends events offer a discount or free entry to Friends of Rowntree Park households.  To join fr just £5 a year please go to http://www.rowntreepark.org.uk/membership or email membership@rowntreepark.org.uk for further details.

 

 

Nature Ninjas spring into action!

Posted: May 8, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Blog, Events, Young Friends | Leave a comment

 

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What an amazing start our ‘Nature Ninjas’ have had!  This new after-school club has been running a  few weeks now and it is proving to be lots of fun!  Our Younger Friends of Rowntree Park have been trying out a variety of nature-based activities including den building, pond dipping, bug hunting and making birds nests.  There is still a lot more to come throughout this half term – we can’t wait!

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The club of 15 children meet weekly on a Thursday after school.  If you are interested in your child coming along to future Nature Ninja sessions that may run next half term, get in touch with the Young Friends via Facebook or via membership@rowntreepark.org.uk to register interest.

All our events are run by volunteers.  If you are interested in helping run and/or organise children’s events, we’d love to hear from you.

The Young Friends also run monthly one-off events, more details can be found on Facebook.

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Where have all the Conkers gone?

Posted: October 3, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Blog, Wildlife, Young Friends | Tags: | Leave a comment
A guest blogpost by Christine, of the Very Young Friends

My own very young friend of Rowntree Park and I love to go out collecting things.  We’ve found pine cones, seed pods, brown leaves, green leaves, red leaves, orange leaves and all the colours inbetween but NO conkers!

We searched the woods area.  We searched the play park trees.  We searched all the trees and found nothing.  Had all our other very young friends beaten us to it?  Maybe it was the squirrels hiding them away for winter?  Or maybe there were no conkers?

A search under the trees found nothing (except in the play park where there were a few chewed up little bits of conkers) and a look up into the trees found no conker pods waiting to fall.  We did find some brown shrivelled up tiny seed pods on the trees which had never made it into conkers.  Sadly there are no conkers in the park this year.

Back home we checked it out on the internet.  We found a whole range of things which might have upset the trees.  We found there is an insect call the Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner which attacks the leaves of the horse chestnut. The larvae mine within the leaves which then fall off.  We also discovered another illness called Leaf Blotch where a fungus infects the leaves.  We’re just hoping that it was caused by the floods last winter and that the conkers will be back next year.

For this year though, we’re looking elsewhere for our conkers.  If you know of any good conker trees around York, let us know!

Art workshops for children

Posted: November 7, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Events, Young Friends | Tags: , | Leave a comment

As a new venture for the Young Friends, we’re offering art workshops for children, on Saturday mornings, starting this Saturday, November the 9th. This week, Liz Collier, an exciting local artist, is going to be leading a session based on doodling. The sessions are totally FREE to Friends, and only £2 for others. 10am to 11.30 at Rowntree Park Reading Cafe. Suitable for all primary-age children. Booking essential; please email parkactive@rowntreepark.org.uk or phone 0758 290 2018.

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