Hargher Clough School

Situation

Hargher Clough Centre in Burnley, is a Key Stage 4 Short Stay School working with children excluded from mainstream school or those experiencing difficulties and facing possible exclusion.

The school wanted to use its young people’s present day interests and skills (mountain biking and ICT Technology) to create a series of industrial heritage trails by researching and mapping the evidence of the industrial past on and around the fells near Burnley. The fells and valleys around East Lancashire are a landscape littered with the evidence of our industrial past (industrial buildings - old mill buildings, weavers cottages, industrialists residences, monuments, quarries, reservoirs, dams, pump houses, bridges).

The key aspect to this Lottery funded project is that the industrial heritage trail created is to be accessed by mountain bike using existing yet historical transport routes such as ancient pack horse routes and drover roads, as well as newer bridle-ways.

Our solution

We needed to provide the young people with the mountain biking skills required over the next 12 months. We started by using the brilliant purpose-built trails at Lee Quarry, Rossendale, to cover the basics – and to get them enthused about riding the fells! We return to the Quarry periodically throughout the life of the project to help them develop their skills.

Benefits

Currently we are about a third of the way through the project and the feedback has been fantastic! The young people have learnt basic bike maintenance and the importance of regular care of their cycles and equipment.

The rides have been challenging and incorporated local Industrial Heritage as well as the future of such developments as Lee Quarry and the new bridleway trails that have been or are being built around Burnley.

Most of the young people involved are developing their research skills to collect information on their local heritage as well as the heritage site visited on the mountain bike rides. The young people are taking responsibility on the research work on heritage by creating displays and arranging data to be input into the school’s "Heritage Display database"

Related projects

• Manchester looked-after-children

• Macclesfield College enrichment

 

Fact file

Client:

Harger Clough School -

Pupil Referral Unit

Date:

From December 09

Location:

venues around Burnley, Nelson, and Rossendale

Frequency:

On-going

Number of people:

12

"I have gotten a lot fitter and my skills have become a lot more advanced. I am able to follow detailed instructions better"

"My behaviour has improved in school so I can go biking"

 

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