Gold D of E Practice Expedition

On Thursday afternoon 4 teams and a number of staff headed out onto Dartmoor into the wet for a practice D of E Expedition. Fortunately the rain lasted only until the end of Thursday. The sun shone on Friday and Saturday, both were absolutely stunning days and a reminder of why I chose to work in this part of the UK. All 4 groups got some mileage under their belt and although one campsite got attacked by a hungry badger, all had a good time.

We have now broken up for Easter so no more updates until we return week beginning 16th April. Have a good break.

Mr G Starks (Head of Outdoor Education)

Windy at Sheep's Tor

On our weekly Wednesday climbing trip we headed to Sheeps Tor where the group split in two, one group spent the session with Mr Brice. In this group there was Ieuan, George, Alister and Charlie. They set up tope ropes and leArnt how to belay from the top of a climb. The other group went with Mr Starks, in this group was Elliot and I (Alex), we learnt how to lead climb using traditional gear. everybody had a great time dispite the cold and I look forward to another trad climbing session.
Alex Moore (Year 11)

Last Lunch Time Rolling

Today was our last lunch time kayak rolling session and with only 2 students attending, they both got one to one tuition and have really developed some excellent kayak control. Both were rolling sucessfully.

Sno -Tubing

Today I took a number of Boarding students to the Plymouth Ski Centre for some Sno-Tubing. Of course I had a go myself

Miss Dunn & Mr Starks visit The Palace

In October 2011, Plymouth College became an Independant D of E Operating Authority. Today Miss Dunn and Mr Starks went to St James Palace in London to see The Duke of Edinburgh and receive our certificate for the school. Unfortunately it was not allowed to take photographs inside the palace so there is no evidence of Mr Starks wearing a suit. Charlie Boorman was the celebrity presenting the certificates to those that had completed their Gold Award and Miss Dunn had a nice chat with Prince Phillip.

Ten Tors Training; 35 mile team

The 35 mile team had a long walk planned for Saturday following a typical Event route up the Western side of the moor. After a slightly gloomy start we had fantastic weather and a very picturesque water refill spot between White Tor and Sittaford. Unfortunately the conditions further North worsened and the heavy bags were taking their toll so we had to change plans last minute. Instead of our wild camp at Oke Tor we beat a retreat to Whiteworks for Sat night, awoke to a spectacular sunrise and mist-filled Fox Tor Mire, and stomped South to finish at Cadover bridge. We even managed to dry the tents out while waiting for the 55s before heading back to school!

Geography Field Trip - Day 2

We were up bright and early this morning to find the weather forecast had done exactly as it was supposed to. The overnight snow had made it's way down to 300m above sea level so we let the students have a little more time to relax before making our way to Pen y Pass for a mountain day on Snowdon.

Due to the snow conditions and the students equipment we made our way up the miners track to Glaslyn. This meant we could really consolidate what we learned from Paul Gannon yesterday. The southern side of Snowdon has a series of four glaciated corries with definitive corrie lips and signs of plucking.

We made our way up above Glaslyn to the standing stone where the Miner's track meets the Pyg track. From here we descended back down the Pyg track to Pen y Pass, on route looking down Nant Peris where the students could see the truncated spurs of Crib y Ddysgl and  Crib Goch.

Tomorrow morning we are off to the tourism honeypot that is Betws y Coed to collect various data before the drive back to Plymouth.

Mr Brice

Geography Field Trip - Day 1

Yesterday afternoon Miss Starling and I drove up to Llanberis in North Wales with 9 year 10 geography students for a trip into the mountains to learn about glaciation. Last night the students had a presentation from a Snowdonia National Park Ranger.

This morning we met up with Paul Gannon for an educational walk around Cwm Idwal. Paul is the author of Rock Trails - Snowdonia, a book written for keen hill walkers wanting to know more about the geographical and geological features in the area. The students all enjoyed the morning and found it extremely useful to visualise the information learned in the classroom.

The afternoon was spent at Electric Mountain. We took the students on a tour around the hydro electric power station to look at the benefits of sustainable power production.

After a good dinner of Sausage Casserole and an evening classroom session the students were off to bed to prepare for the next day.

Mr Brice

Extra comfy kit for Ten Tors!

We collected six inflatable roll mats from Cotswold Outdoor (who have also furnished us with some massive kit bags) today.

We were going to go out and do something productive, but Mr Brice thought he'd test them out instead. Unfortunately those who use them will only get one each...