14 of the Year 9’s completed their DofE IA walk in the area between Borinka and Raca on Tuesday 8th to Wednesday 9th May. Here they had to walk 6 hours each day and work as a team to navigate the woods to get to their campsite. Both groups did amazingly well. They worked well as a team and kept each other motivated. Also, they showed that they had good map and compass reading skills. They as a group had to navigate without the help of a member of staff. Both groups showed that they were able to read the landscape on know where they were and therefore where they should go. As well as map reading the teams also had to put up their tents and cook their own dinner as a group. They produced as a team some lovely pasta and sauce. We were very impressed with their ability to keep the campsite clean and tidy.
The 2 teams in Piestany had an amazing 2 days too. Both groups performed very well in so many ways both as a group and individually. Damian Eastwood and Adriana Pallova were relentless in their pursuit of high standards and expectations, yet always there to support their groups. The teams showed very good team spirit, individuals showed leadership skills, caring and sharing within and between the teams too. It went well, and the teams returned tired and exhausted but with a great sense of achievement. Of course, many lessons were learned, like being realistic about timings, what to pack and NOT to pack, more efficient food planning, minimising waste and consideration of the environment. Both groups had learnt a lot from their journey experience. They reflected well, worked amazingly as a team and showed great resilience as well as care and support for their comrades. And yes, they made it back to catch the train at the right time.
The canoeing team has left on the 7th May to Cunovo where they, as they have previously agreed, got into their canoes in pairs. The challenge of their first leg of the journey was to recall the steering and paddling skills the students have learnt during enrichment time. Arriving to the branches of the Danube, these skills along with map reading and navigation skills were essential, as the stream became faster and a few fallen trees have created obstacles for the canoes to pass. The intact nature offering habitat to many animals, the remoteness of the place gave the participants the sense of them ruling the area. However, they soon discovered that the river gives them only a few seconds to decide on which way to go so all the team had to be spot on where they were on the map at all time and had to be able to make quick decisions in seconds for the whole team. Focusing consistently, paddling, steering, communicating, making decisions, taking responsibility – these are all challenging tasks for such an introverted and withdrawn team. But when the challenges came, they grew up to the tasks and have solved whatever came towards them.
Your commitment and preparation made it all possible and often students referred to what Ms Bea had told them.
A big thank you goes out to Ms Bea for organizing the trip. And for Mr Euell, Mr Linley and Ms Statovci for supervising the students and making sure that we got the most out the two days and stayed on track.