The Year Ahead

About Flickernet 24/25:

Supporting underprivileged young people

Assisting schools in the South West of England

 

Outdoor learning and remote sensing facilities  (Space To Learn), in Northern Ireland

Core principles:

We have a Christian ethos, seeking to meet the needs of those who face disadvantage by providing access to technology and the natural world: in combination

 

Pupil-led investigations and project-based learning ensure creative control for those who may not have experienced an open-ended learning approach before

Immersive experiences to help those who suffer from anxiety or who are in need of other mental health support, to benefit from the calming sensations of the woodland

Engagement with the natural environment from afar, with added agency due to the remote connectivity systems.

Therapeutics and mental health care, including for the neurodivergent: opportunities for technology and the woodland environment to be combined into new and effective therapy methods

Pupils of all ages are shown real projects that have been designed to help others, or the environment: this provides inspiration for their own projects

Teachers and home educators are encouraged to join their pupils in developing innovative methods of interacting remotely with the enivronment

Training for teachers, along with the physical space to explore new technologies, including support for their own innovative approaches to learning

Multiple live feeds from within an ancient woodland in the Mountains of Mourne, Northern Ireland provide real-time access to STEM experiments

Real data, drawn from sensors that are spread throughout an area of special scientific interest (ASSI) inspire learners to develop their own projects which, in turn, can be physically located within the same woodland for them to monitor.

In 2025 our focus on the wellbeing of young people will be the main Flickernet offering. 

InFindingOut:  

  • designed to encourage engagement with learning
  • starts with the individual needs of the young person.
  • for anybody who finds themselves disengaged, overcome with anxiety or otherwise prevented from doing their best in school.

Our combination of therapeutic woodland experience and cutting edge STEM experimentation, provides young people and their teachers with a new outlook.

We aim is to deliver this for free by partnering with organisations who seek to support the growing mental health challenges that are encountered by young people today.

There follows a blog which it is hoped can be helpful in charting the journey that Flickernet, (mainly Phillip Anley!), has taken. Having taught full time in schools from 2005, Phillip has been working independently again through Flickernet Ltd. since 2022. Phillip is also a Director of Digital Writes CIC and of Mourne Country Park Ltd. Phillip divides his time between England and Northern Ireland.

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AvenueCam

One last camera online for now: AvenueCam. This solar powered camera stretches the WiFi connection to the current limits: providing a view over the avenue that leads further into Mourne Park.

This live feed, along with the established set of existing broadcasts, provide learners with an instant link into the natural environment upon which their classroom studies are based.

The aim of this camera is to monitor the red squirrels as they traverse this route as well as to monitor activity from a freshly dug fox hole below!

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Outdoor Robot Track cleared

The Transmission Zone is a general purpose broadcast area for remotely monitored experiments that need a bit more space. 

Central to the space is a young oak tree that is awaiting having a squirrel feeder attached to it. This will be provided by John Francis, who manages the red squirrel population in Mourne Park.

In front of this is taking shape an area for the outdoor robot system, which is currently under development in association with Kevin from Kitronik. More details soon.

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Micro:Bit Cam is live

Space To Learn provides a test-bed for projects that inspire STEM learning. This Micro:Bit experiment measures three aspects of the environment in the woodland around it: the moisture levels of the forest floor; the ambient temperature; and the light level under the canopy. 

Pupils will be building their own versions of these in the Autumn, whilst comparing what they create with the live view on screen.

Teachers have the opportunity to develop their own versions and to explore the potential for environmental sensing and project based learning connected directly to the woodland in Northern Ireland.

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WatchBox location; outdoor robot area and wasps!

Summer in Northern Ireland is well underway with preparations focused on the upcoming Autumn Outdoor Coding sessions. 

The WatchBox prototype is due for deployment in October. An ideal tree is now ready – with a new video stream of that tree in place . The data link to that tree will be helped by its proximity to an access point and plenty of sunlight will support the solar. 

Transmission Zone (outdoor robot testing area and squirrel feeder location) has now got a defined perimiter indicated by luminous cord!

The camera formally known as CloseupCam 1 has become WaspCam.. It was about to have a Micro:Bit experiment added when I was stung! In attempting to move the unsightly cable I got stung twice more! WaspCam it is then – the nest is situated clearly in view and busy!

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