Education At Birkhill House
Supporting education
At Birkhill House CIC has been working with children and young people since 2019, even sending art and craft activity packs out during the pandemic. We believe that exploration and creativity are vital components of education that can be difficult to deliver in a classroom setting.
We can support school visits to meet set curriculum objectives, as well as flexible support for learners struggling in a mainstream environment. We have been lucky to be able to support the home education community in the Scottish Borders over the years and have formalised routes to using Birkhill as a home education setting.
School Visits
At Birkhill House CIC can help teachers, classes and entire schools to meet their CfE obligations across the Expressive Arts, Technologies and Health & Wellbeing sections of the curriculum.
From wet felting and spinning skills to our innovative Everything Woolen activity series, we can deliver bespoke workshops ranging from three hours to full days or offer CLPD on a range of skills for teachers wishing to learn more about fibre-led learning/teaching in the classroom.
Our new Fleece & Fibre Hub means we can offer bespoke on-site visits for full-day packages such as Creature to Creation or half-day bespoke programmes to sketch our animals, weave in nature or explore natural dye garden and the fruits of our harvest. Costs start from £6/child or young person for a half day and £10/child or young person for a full day.
Flexible Curriculum Support
Over the past few years, we have had been approached by an increasing number of parents and educators who are looking for flexible support for learners within the Curriculum for Excellence.
We have supported learners who attend Birkhill one-to-one with learning support staff for wellbeing sessions or who come with a group to take part in mixed crafting, animal or gardening sessions outside of the formal school environment.
We're always delighted to share our equipment and expertise and could support interested Nat 4 & 5, Higher or Advanced Higher students working on particular skills or portfolio development. One-to-one sessions cost £25/hour.
Home Education
Birkhill is a wonderful place to expand, explore and develop your home education syllabus.
The amenities are plentiful: cosy workshop spaces in renovated Victorian stables, a beautifully designed outdoor classroom, an established natural dye garden, paddocks full of gorgeous alpacas, sheep & goats, a brand new Fleece & Fibre hub brimming with all different types of fibre and hand-processing equipment, outdoor seating areas, garden beds & polytunnel - all set on nine acres of land two miles north of Earlston. There is a comprehensive pricing scheme on the flyer. Just click the link below to review.
Make Birkhill your classroom!
Volunteering
Volunteers make up the backbone of At Birkhill House CIC, and we are always looking for enthusiastic, committed individuals or small groups who want to come help us make Birkhill a special place for everyone.
We have a wide range of volunteering opportunities and can support both Saltire and Duke of Edinburgh Award candidates.
Testimonial
Birkhill House has made a profound difference to my young person, who is diagnosed with Autism and has a variety of additional needs. When we found Birkhill a year ago, he had been struggling to cope with the pressures and demands of school life and was no longer able to engage. Through Lara’s gentle and gifted approach, he was able to build enough confidence to attend regular animal assisted and craft sessions at Birkhill House.
It is no exaggeration to say that this service has been the single most important activity in recovery from depression and self-harm; supporting his social inclusion, developing anxiety management strategies, encouraging gentle exposure to real life opportunities and nurturing a natural talent for animal care and interest in craft skills.
We have struggled to find an educational pathway for him but now thanks to the staff team at Birkhill, his mental health is stable enough for him to have been able to re-engage with studying National qualifications remotely and we now have hope of being able to find a positive pathway and a final destination working in animal care and welfare. Most importantly he is happy and each session at Birkhill is joyful for him. We will always be thankful for the opportunities that are offered at Birkhill House, and in particular the commitment and investment Lara has made in supporting him, with creativity, imagination and flexibility. Her dedication to growing the business and investing in volunteers, staff and service users alongside the highest animal welfare, ensures standards of excellence.
- A Caring Parent