2019 News Round Up

What a year the students have had!

Many of our students have become exceptional outdoor practitioners due to their hard work and enthusiasm in the highly successful Survival Training. One student of note is Art O’Hara from Lewes who, whilst still in 6th form, has been asked to work for us in his spare time on a paid basis. His skills and his teaching practice have come on leaps and bounds, giving him a huge head start in life. He now has a strong ability to teach both young people and adults to a very high standard. To date, we have had eight students go on to work as trainees and instructors. Having completed the Survival Training they are now practising professionals in various fields in their own rights.

We have implemented two new and totally unique expeditions this summer that went extremely well. One expedition took a group to Peru where the students walked one of the Inca Trails to Machu Picchu and witnessed some magical sites.

The students also spent a record twelve days in the deep Amazon on a small island near the head of the Amazon River. Twelve days is a long time to spend in the jungle for anyone but with the right training they had a blast! They spent their time building a five thousand litre capacity water tower so that the village could have its first fresh water in four generations!

The students described their experiences as world-class and truly life changing. They also changed the lives of the hundred people in that village for the better. Well done everyone! Next time this school’s Peru Expedition will include digging for fossils in the high Atacama Desert for the Natural History Museum and if they find anything of import, they will be published!

Another Expedition took a London school to the very north of Finland where they learnt how to find gold. The gold prospecting trip included two days of canoeing down a serene and peaceful river where students developed their skills in a calm and safe, but super interesting and exciting post-glacial environment. They also wild camped under the northern lights, went fishing, hiking in the endless countryside and FOUND GOLD which they were allowed to keep. This will be displayed on an expedition plaque in the school with great pride.

Our new expedition programme called the 7 Wonders of the World is now due for launch. This will enable students in earlier years of the school to plan for trips and expeditions way in advance of their later years at the school, encouraging them to stay on to 6th form. Some of the trips include:

2019 saw many school activity days and UK-based school camps too. During these, students learned the importance of serving one another, of teamwork, the need to develop resilience and a host of other important values and life-skills in addition to developing a host of outdoor and survival skills. We were privileged to be invited to contribute to one school’s fourth centenary celebrations and to develop a whole school (pupil and staff) programme for another.

In addition to our work with students, we have led several successful CPD and coaching engagements for staff and senior management on areas such as wellbeing and change management.

Watch this space for exciting new personal development courses and resources coming over the next year and we look forward to seeing you on the adventure.

Leave a Reply