Eco Zone Packages

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The Hideout House Company in partnership with Timotay Playscapes have created a unique product offering to promote eco awareness in schools.

With climate change and environmental concerns firmly back on the international agenda and featured regularly in the mainstream media, awareness about these important issues and embracing social responsibilities within our schools is now more important than ever.

To foster this process, the Hideout House Company have put together a range of unique and creative product packages which compliment the major eco schools themes – RENEWABLE ENERGY, BIO-DIVERSITY, SCHOOL GROUNDS, HEALTHY LIVING, RECYCLING AND GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP.

The company has therefore created four distinct “centres” or “zones”. The Renewable Energy Centre allows children to monitor, measure and use green energy from the sun, water, wind and pedal power. Via an energy-monitoring panel and power unit, students can then use this clean and carbon neutral electricity to power up their laptops, tablets, mobile phones, visualisers, cameras or even a radio station!

The Growing and Healthy Living Centre features products which encourage children to plant and grow their own food and complete the cycle by composting any waste which can then be used as fertiliser for the planter beds…to help grow more food.

Wild and natural outdoor spaces can sometimes be a rare site in our schools today so the Biodiversity Centre gives children the opportunity to learn about and observe at first hand animals, conservation and wild meadows.

The Recycling Centre features a very unique product which is the water re-cycling and power generating water mine. Via a hand pump set in a tower, children can pump water from a reservoir onto a water wheel which in turn transfers motion through a shaft to an interactive pulley that can run a windmill at a variable speed. The water drops from the wheel into the rill and can then be dammed both with a screw action sluice gate and removable plastic gates. The flow of water can also be changed with moveable textured “islands”.

Children can also construct their own “igloo” den made out of recycled plastic milk cartons.

And all of these specialist zones are spokes to the Eco Outdoor Classroom or Hub (complete with sedum roof) where children can conduct their studies outdoors and genuinely take learning outside of the classroom.

If schools are working towards their Eco Schools accreditation, are wanting to successfully take learning outside of the classroom, are wishing to develop innovative ways to deliver curriculum outcomes and involve the local community, then the Hideout House Company have come up with the ideal solution.

And we are helping to save the planet……..

For more information, please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982/07711 542589 or

e-mail: simon@hideouthouse.com

Eco centre packages info: eco school activities

 Web address: www.hideouthouse.com

UN Report on Climate Change

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So you have now been officially warned! The recent published report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides overwhelming evidence that climate change is very much real and it is happening right now with devastating consequences across the globe. This report has been collated by 300 scientists from around the world and the over-riding conclusion is that the science is now speaking loud and clear.

Even the BBC gave 15 minutes to this news coverage on the 10 o’clock news!

Now the doubters could argue that this is all scare-mongering and media-inflated but I strongly believe that we cannot bury our heads in the sand any more and spend the next thirty years arguing about the supposed facts and scientific data.

We have no Planet B and therefore education is everything because if we are going to make any significant difference to help saving our planet, then awareness about environmental issues and embracing social responsibilities has to come as second nature to this generation of school children. They will not question climate change, they will simply accept it.

So to assist in this educational programme for eco schools, we have put together a range of unique and creative product packages which compliment the major eco schools topics: RENEWABLE ENERGY, BIO DIVERSITY, HEALTHY LIVING AND EATING; RE-CYCLING AND GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP.

Our whole ethos is to engage children in a challenging and fun way so that they will keep on wanting to engage within the sustainability knowledge process – time and time again.

For further details on these unique eco schools packages, please refer to our website www.hideouthouse.com or email: simon@hideouthouse.com for further details

 

 

 

Don’t Build The Ark Just Yet!

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With all of this recent bad weather and heavy flooding we have been experiencing of late, it was sort of inevitable that everybody would start blaming everyone else and that the perennial issue of climate change would yet again come to the fore of public discussion and debate.

I am no scientist by any means and sometimes it is hard to know what to believe when confronted with so much conflicting information – but I do know this for sure and that is that we have been experiencing some pretty weird but consisent weather patterns these last ten years and surely we cannot just keep blaming the good old British climate. We have obviously upset Mother Nature and she is telling us loud and clear that she is not very happy.

We do need therefore to start to make some fundamental changes to the way we treat this planet but I totally appreciate that this will be extremely difficult to get everyone to agree upon exactly what, when and how. But I believe that a very good place to start is to introduce today’s children to eco schools education so that eco awareness and social responsibility becomes absolutely second nature to them. If we can encourage this more and more in schools, then hopefully we can secure some sort of a better future where they will not have to entertain the prospect of ducks swimming around their front living room each winter!

The Eco Schools programme is doing a great job to promote their green agenda within the educational community and it is pleasing to see more and more schools joining each year.

And that is why everything we sell to schools at the Hideout House Company is designed to foster eco awareness and to promote an educational green engagement. But we haven’t designed and built an ark just yet!!

For more information, please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or email simon@hideouthouse.com

The Hideout House Company Ltd   www.hideouthouse.com

 

 

 

Switch to Ecotricity for your energy supplier and earn money for your school at the same time

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ecotricity_green

The Hideout House Company joins forces with Ecotricity to launch playground offer for schools

Specialist eco playground supplier The Hideout House Company has teamed up with green energy supplier Ecotricity to offer a fund-raising package for schools to get their hands on green playground products.

For every new customer who signs up for Ecotricity’s electricity or gas tariffs, a school of their choice will receive a donation of up to £60 to purchase Hideout House green playground products¹.

Simon Fearnehough, from the Hideout House Company, said: “With the Big Six energy suppliers having recently announced energy price increases, now is as good a time as any to buy green power – not least because Ecotricity pledges always to cost less than the standard Big Six electricity tariff in your region or the standard gas price from British Gas wherever you live.

“It’s a win-win offer – consumers can save some money on their energy bills, and raise some funds for their chosen school too.”

Ecotricity are an energy company unlike any other. They take the money their customers spend on their electricity and gas bills and turn it into new sources of renewable energy – generating green energy from their fleet of wind and sun parks, and green gas complete with a ‘frack-free’ guarantee.

Jake Windsor, Partnerships Manager at Ecotricity, said: “This is a partnership with two clear sustainable outcomes – providing green energy to households on the one hand, and delivering green playground equipment for schools on the other. Hopefully, this offer will be a great boost for people looking for a cheaper, greener energy supplier, as well as for schools looking for more sustainable playgrounds.”

The Hideout House products are designed with the emphasis on teaching children about the environment and feature extensively eco features such as sedum roofs, wind turbines, solar panels, water butts and planters².

Ecotricity was founded in 1995 as the world’s first green energy company. Now powering around 80,000 homes and businesses from its growing fleet of wind and sun parks, the company is a ‘not-for-dividend’ enterprise that, on average, invests more per customer in building new sources of green electricity than any other energy company in Britain.

For schools interested in promoting the offer to staff, parents, PTAs or on their websites and newsletters, simply send out the landing page link, or contact Ecotricity for promotional resources and literature³.

Notes

¹ Customers simply log onto a landing page, choose Ecotricity’s Green Gas and/or Green Electricity tariff, and once they have signed up a donation is automatically generated for any product in the Hideout House range. This link is www.ecotricity.co.uk/hideout-house.

Donations are: £40 for electricity; £20 for gas; £60 for dual fuel

² For more on The Hideout House’s green credentials, visit their website: http://www.hideouthouse.com/eco

³ Contact Jacob Windsor from Ecotricity on 01453 756111 or email: jacob.windsor@ecotricity.co.uk

For further details please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or email: simon@hideouthouse.com

www.hideouthouse.com

How to Solve the Problem of School Classroom Shortage

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Well I think we all know by now that we have a problem in this country in that there are simply too many children for too few school classroom spaces and it is a problem which isn’t going to go away any time soon. So although our dear politicians are still blaming each other for not doing enough or for not sufficiently identifying this hiatus, we at the Hideout House Company are already ahead of the curve and are coming to the nation’s rescue.

I’ve got to believe that the problem for classroom overcrowding does not always necessitate the need to immediately get your cement mixer out and start building brand new schools because the last time I looked, the public purse was a little bereft of funds. So you need to find another solution and I think that this has got something to do with the following:

1) As no-one seems to know absolutely for sure whether this is just a one-off demographic blip or whether this is indeed more of a medium to long term problem – in which case a school needs to be flexible in its approach and can therefore provide accommodation which mirrors the inevitable ebb and flow of the annual school pupil roster.

2) A new classroom building has got to look aesthetically pleasant and is not like something you would expect to see on a building site.

3) Understandably schools don’t like to have a lot of building work going on during school term time so I can appreciate why Bob the School Builder only comes out to play during school holidays. But what if this could not always be achieved due to one thing and another so you would need minimal on-site building schedules and minimal disruption to the school day.

4) As a school with individual needs, you might have your own ideas as to what you want to have in this new building and how it is designed/laid out but you don’t really want to buy an “off-the-peg, one size fits all” solution. You want to stamp your own identity on it with a building which meets your own requirements.

5) You might want to one day perhaps move it to another area at the school or indeed to another site altogether. Or you might not need it anymore in which case you could sell it to another school…or rent it out to the local community and generate some income.

6) As a school head, I am sure that you will not have the time nor the inclination to deal with all of the complex and timely issues surrounding the provision of a new building – namely planning, sub-contract works, building regs etc and you would love to be able to just come into school one morning and the shiny brand new building is already there

Well if all of the above makes sense and ticks some boxes, then we can help you and the nation’s problem out. We have vast experience of supplying classroom buildings and solutions to schools nationwide and we know how time consuming it can be. I personally would want re-assurance of this claim so we are more than happy for all of our new customers to go and visit our existing customers, see our buildings in the flesh, visit our factory and ask loads of questions.

Have a look at our website pages and then please give us a call.

school classroom buildings

For further information, please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or mobile 07711 542589 and e-mail simon@hideouthouse.com

ClassroomSt Gregorys & St Patricks 1

 

This Is Not Just Any Old Outdoor Classroom – This Is An Eco Centre!

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P1070079   P1060979

We have just started to install our first Eco Centre outdoor classroom buildings at primary schools in the UK. Last month, we have sold five and without wishing to brag, all of these schools are absolutely delighted with them.

These buildings not only provide a practical role by providing an outdoor space where children can simply learn outdoors or appreciate natural habitats and bio-diversity but they also act as an educational resource as well. The school children have been busy monitoring the panel on the wind turbine and solar panel system and using the energy created to power up some LED lights and other low level appliances. The rainwater from the water butt has been harvested and used to water the school’s growing gardens, vegetable patches and planters and some classrooms have been undertaking studies on monitoring the wildlife and bio-diversity that has been attracted via the sedum roof, mini eco pond and insect nests.

With the Eco School programme becoming ever more popular in schools and coupled with the fact that this generation need to understand and be more sympathetic to the environment so that it becomes second nature to them, I think we are going down the right line!

For more information please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or email simon@hideouthouse.com

or please visit eco outdoor classrooms

Advice on Applying for Grants

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And here are some wise words from the funding consultant Colin Laird:

When applying for grants, a lot of time can be saved by research. Carefully read through prospective funder’s criteria before writing anything down. By reading up on what is available, your efforts can be positively directed towards an achievable goal. Even the most persuasive and gifted writers would fail if applying for the wrong grant. A little time spent researching exactly what grant givers want to fund can often be a useful exercise as you will eventually start to match your funding goals to funder’s criteria. A perfect match may never happen, but you might find that one particular grant would cover maybe 80% of what you want to do. You can then continue to research what funds are available to cover the remaining 20% and start to map out a plan.

A strong grant application is similar to a strong job application. Schools are full of staff who have successfully completed winning job applications, so it would seem like a good idea to utilise these skills. Each applicant has looked at the person spec and job description, given it some thought and finally explained why and how their skills and experience match these criteria, carefully and concisely giving evidence that they are a capable and suitable candidate. The same process is used with a grant application. If time allows, have a group of staff look at each prospective funder’s ‘what we will fund’ and ‘what we won’t fund’ lists – this will save a lot of time and effort in the long run. You may end up with one particular funder that stands out as being the most relevant to what you want to do. Don’t expect to find a perfect match though – remember you will be looking elsewhere to fund certain aspects of your project. Focus on the main relevant funder, using the skills of your group of successful job applicants to tackle each bullet pointed criteria. After a short time, you will have a list of reasons why your School is an excellent candidate for the funding. This list will be repeatedly referenced and expanded upon when filling in the actual grant application.

It may also be beneficial to get together again as a group to tackle the actual grant application forms. Read through any accompanying guidance notes and have these notes to hand. Don’t use up everyone’s valuable time filling in the easy questions at this point. Tackle the big questions that require lengthy and comprehensive answers. Using large sheets of paper and markers, break off into sub groups for 10 minutes to tackle these questions. The form may require you to write 500 words about outcomes but at this stage you only need to list outcomes. Similarly, the form may require 500 words assessing the need for the project – again the sub groups only need to list the main reasons why the project is needed. At the end of the session, all the information gathered will eventually form the comprehensive answers on the grant application form. If you have a designated person to complete the actual form, they will find the task much easier, knowing that many parties have been consulted beforehand.

For further information, please contact Simon Fearnehough at simon@hideouthouse.com or phone 01865 858982

www.hideouthouse.com

 

I Need To See A Funding Doctor

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We all know what a daunting task it can be when you set out on your fundraising journey so to make it a lot easier and simpler, we have teamed up with the Funding Doctors team to help you out. There are two ways they can help:

Bespoke, Individual and On-Going Funding Advice

In a nutshell, we will show you where to get your funding and how to get it. You will receive a one-to-one tailored advice session through which you will get an insight to the wide range of funding opportunities that are available and improve your understanding of what funders expect from applicants. We will then research funding opportunities specific to your project and location and provide you with a bespoke funding report. You will now be ready for completing grant applications plus we will give you on-going support and be on call for any fundraising matters or questions which might arise. We will also inform you immediately of any new funding streams that might be relevant to your project

Workshop

If we can get a few local schools together as a cluster, we can put together a tailored workshop for what you need to focus on and which would typically include:

– The funding environment: helping you to understand who they are
competing against for funding and why they need to make a strong business
case

– Speaking the funders’ language: helping you to understand what the funders
expect, particularly defining needs and outcomes for the project, so that they
increase their chances of successful funding bids.

– Putting together a funding mix strategy: what type of funding is available and
relevant and enabling the delegates to think creatively about the funding
strategy in the context of today’s competitive funding environment.

– Other things to think about in order to make the project successful, e.g.
consultation, communications strategy

We make the sessions interactive and very practical. You will come away with a clear understanding of where to find funding and what you need to do to be successful.

If you wanted to have an initial exploratory chat with them I am sure that they would love to hear from you. They can be contacted on 0208 144 0194 or email info@support4communityprojects.co.uk

For further information, please contact Simon Fearnehough from the Hideout House Company Ltd on 01865 858982 or email: simon@hideouthouse.com

The Hideout House Company Ltd www.hideouthouse.com

Let Us Ease Your Fundraising Burden!

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I must admit that I am no great fan of cliched expressions but certainly the one “time poor” is a good and relevant one as we all seem to run around nowadays like headless chickens in this stressed-out little world of ours not being able to do the things we probably should be doing. And I think the same is true when it comes to fundraising for your school – so many times I have spoken to school staff who have either been on some fundraising skills course or who have identified a specific need for one of our products and at this stage of the proceedings their enthusiasm levels are on overdrive. A quote is drawn up and then comes the big moment to venture bravely out into the unknown in a quest to find the money to pay for it….and sadly it is at this point where I let out a long sigh!

Fundraising is not easy and if it was, everybody would be doing it! I have done it myself and I know that you get many knocks along the way, it is very time consuming, it requires dogged persistence and your everyday workload is not getting any smaller. So the sigh is because I know so many of you just simply give up and the once sky-high enthusiasm slowly dissipates into terminal apathy.

But all is not lost as there are specialist courses for schools you can go on which deal with successful bid writing techniques. They work with you to identify your goals, they research all of the funding options and channels available and then tell you how you best go about filling out application bids and maximising your chances of success…..but (and this is a most important but) with their experience, they know which levers to pull and how to approach these nice people who are hopefully going to make your dreams come true!

So if you would like to discuss how we can help you raise money on your behalf, then please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or email: simon@hideouthouse.com

The Hideout House Company Ltd

www.hideouthouse.com

 

I’ll Scratch Your Back If You Scratch Mine

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And so the old adage goes.

We at the Hideout House Company are great believers that nothing in this life is quite genuinely for free so if you do something for somebody else, then it has to be rewarded in some shape or form. And that is why we have set up our customer loyalty reward scheme. A lot of our business comes from good old fashioned word of mouth with people refering us to other interested parties. The best form of marketing ever invented but we are saying quite simply that we will pay you for doing this.

So if your school either recommends us to another school or we can send someone to you to see one of our products “in the flesh” so to speak (and please say nice things about us!) and that this referral eventually turns into a firm order, then we will pay a commission equal to 5% of the sale value. Or you can have the equivalent amount as a credit to be used against any future purchases from our company.

A school who recently bought one of our Eco Centre Outdoor Classrooms managed to recommend us to another local school and a local pub (who wanted to use it as a smoking shelter). Both of these recommendations have now turned into orders and the school’s PTA coffers are now £672 better off as a result. They have used this extra money to buy some gardening equipment for the school. So worth doing.

For more information please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or email simon@hideouthouse.com

www.hideouthouse.com