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teachwire.net/secondary PA R T N E R C O N T E N T 67 Nick Rhys, senior instructor at The Outward Bound Trust, explains how its residentials boost resilience Outward Bound 1 EXPERIENCE WILD LOCATIONS Young students can be climbing, gorge-walking, canoeing, camping, swimming and hiking in the Lake District, or the Scottish Highlands, or along the Welsh coast. Crucially, we organise these activities all year round with a huge variety of groups. There’s a real ‘wow factor’ to our courses – a great example of this is how we'll often begin with taking a dip in the lake, loch or sea! This is brilliant at inciting participants to break free of their own limits. 2 GAIN DEEPER UNDERSTANDING We possess a sophisticated and evidence-based understanding of the term ‘resilience’, and therefore know that it means far more than simply ‘plugging away’. Resilience requires effort, perseverance and imagination, but too often this imaginative element is ignored. It’s about using ideas from yourself and others to develop strategies that can help you succeed in a task. On a rock climb, for example, the focus will be on using the holds in the best way. During exam revision, you might share planning ideas to help you work more efficiently. 3 ENJOY IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES We differ frommany other activity centres in that we focus on prolonged adventures in nature, rather than short, on-site ‘buzz activities’. The latter, briefer acitivities can be fun, but they don’t teach resilience. We aim to be out all day (and sometimes overnight), often linking activities to create a multi-faceted journey. For instance, we might row across a lake, climb a peak and then canoe back. That’s a level of challenge that can only REASONS TO TRY… 30 SECOND BRIEFING We work with schools to provide life-changing experiences for young people. Founded on the belief that we are all more than we think, we offer a different kind of education – where the best learning happens in the wild and outside your comfort zone. be met by demonstrating both individual and team resilience. 4 PUSH BACK AGAINST BOUNDARIES It is one thing to show resilience in a nice warm classroom but a whole different challenge to do this on a raft half-way across a loch, or when putting up a tent in twilight, or when kayaking back to the centre against the tide, or striving to map a tunnels system. Resilience in school feels easy after this! This ‘stress proofing’ where people must use the learning even when things are not in their favour embeds resilience in an impactful and lasting way. 5 RECEIVE LEARNING THAT LASTS The true value of a school trip is in the learning that ‘sticks’ and can be used back in school. At Outward Bound, participants experience what happens to them as part of a team, often alongside a familiar teacher or two. Resilience isn’t taught in isolation, but as a crucial part of effective teamwork, communication, self-esteem and wellbeing strategies. Having adventures with schoolmates and teachers provides students with a sense of connectedness that will travel back to school with them. Being able to refer back to these shared experiences will then build rapport and wellbeing. 5 We have high expectations of all young people, and have amassed 79 years’ experience of successfully putting this belief into practice! We value facilitation skills in our instructors as much as activity qualifications. In fact, all our instructors have externally validated learning qualifications. Working in partnership with schools is embedded in our practice. This means that our focus is always on making resilience relevant to students’ lives. The power of these prolonged adventures is often seen in how vividly they are remembered – for 10 weeks, 10 months and even 10 years afterwards! Contact: 01931 740 000 outwardbound.org.uk enquiries@outwardbound. org.uk The Outward Bound Trust is an educational charity that helps young people defy their limitations through learning and adventures in the wild. OUR CORE VALUES