Year 12 students who went on a week-long Outward Bound experience this month had some amazing experiences and encountered lots of challenges.

Year 12 students who went on a week-long Outward Bound experience this month had some amazing experiences and encountered lots of challenges.

On Monday 7th November, 10 Year 12 students travelled to Howtown, the Outward Bound Centre in the Lake District for a week's residential.  The students attended the Teams and Leaders course, which encouraged participants to explore their capabilities and broaden their horizons, helping them to adapt to different situations and tackle various problems.

The purpose of the week was for students to manage their own time, solve problems, become effective team players and role models and develop essential leadership skills. Throughout the week they participated in many challenging tasks which tested both their mental and physical capabilities.

The students found that this course has impacted them in many ways, from physical shock to mental agility, co-operation, perseverance and determination. These were all needed in order to complete the activities they embarked upon, ranging from team building exercises to orienteering to an extremely challenging two day, one night expedition. Each activity encouraged students to use their initiative and apply different skills. All of these activities were designed to encourage students to form successful high-performing teams and gain a greater understanding of the various leadership styles.

We asked students to describe what they thought was the best part of the week.  Their responses are below:

"Seeing the whole group grow and develop their abilities and discover new ones, and especially the final day of the expedition when we all realized that there were no more hills to climb and we could see the Outward Bound Centre after a night of rain, wind and early darkness; it was heaven!"

"The range of skills achieved from the course will lead on to aid us in our jobs and UCAS applications as well as coursework and exams.  Due to the increased need for focus and timekeeping, organisation will come with ease, with SMART goals set for all things.  Working this week has formed the building blocks which open doors to team management and leadership skills which could be the difference between obtaining a successful career or not."

"As the course progressed we faced larger responsibilities running many of the activities ourselves, with less mentor instruction and freer reign. With each of us taking different roles in the various activities, we learned that throughout the course of life everyone has to be flexible and be willing to do things outside of their comfort zone.  Moreover we had to rely on each other with trust and communication as the key to overcoming obstacles. As long as we learn from our mistakes and refine our ideas we will be able to meet any challenge that we face head-on."

The students who attended The Outward Bound Trust course also noticed that they changed their character, their confidence grew, their knowledge grew and they stretched themselves. They started out a team with little experience or organization and developed into better leaders prepared for the challenges and the environment that later life will demand.

"The week consisted of many challenging opportunities involving team building exercises some easier than others! Some of the activities we took part in involved the famous jog and dip into the freezing waters of Lake Ullswater, rock climbing, orienteering in the dark and a 'never ending' expedition when many men were 'man down' in 'chest deep' boggy marshes and as referred to as many they were just 'getting to one with nature' whilst enduring their 'spiritual journeys' that the week took them on."

"We ended a fantastic week with a bit of Vengaboys on the bus! We would recommend this course to anybody thinking about it because it is a once in a life time opportunity that will change life as you know it."

 Report written by the Bonnington Group