Visiting The National Holocaust Centre
Students in M4 recently concluded their latest history topic by visiting The National Holocaust Centre and Museum in Newark. Students were exceptionally well behaved and were a pleasure to take out, demonstrating excellent levels of respect towards what has been a sensitive subject. Well done, M4!
Laura Williams
Football In The Community
Last week, some of our Key Stage 3 students enjoyed a visit from Ben Cocker, Education Officer from Mansfield Town Football In The Community.
Students are currently learning about different career pathways open to them once they leave Derrymount School and Ben discussed the Post-16 offer at Mansfield Town FITC. Students learned about how to get into different careers involved in sport and what a typical day studying with Mansfield Town involves – and how much time they would have to enjoy playing football whilst studying for a BTEC qualification!
Thank you to Ben for a wonderful presentation and for giving our students lots to think about.
Climbing New Heights
After over a year of Covid restrictions and uncertainty, it was a pleasure to take out students from M3 before the half term break. As soon as restrictions began to ease, students were excited and enthusiastic about their first trip of the academic year and chose to visit Matlock Bath and the Heights of Abraham. They enjoyed a ride on the cable cars, a visit down the cavern and a fish and chip lunch by the river. The resilience and determination shown by students who were incredibly apprehensive about the cable cars was incredible!
Miss Williams, Mr Bastow and Miss Gardner were overwhelmed by the impeccable behaviour of all students whilst out in the community and look forward to planning the next class outing. Well done M3 for being such wonderful ambassadors for Derrymount!
Author Tom Palmer’s message to Derrymount students
PE@Home Resources
Gedling School Games have produced some PE@home resources.
Storm Damage = new opportunities
It is clearly evidenced (below) that Storms of 2020: Brendan, Ciara and Dennis have left their mark on DMS’s adventure school – as well as more widely and destructively around the country, of course.
Can we fix it?
Over the year we have patched up the shelter with taps, extra canvas, branches and home-made industrial strength tent pegs and guys. But as can be seen, we’re getting to the point were we need to think of a replacement. And a replacement is definitely warranted (and needed) as the shelter, and the general area we have developed into our Adventure School, provides an important role in encouraging people into the outdoors (to enjoy the benefits that being outside brings).
Moving forwards
And so, as we move into the spring, the young people at Derrymount will be involved in a new Outdoor Learning Project called, Shelter 2.0.
And whilst plans are still a bit sketchy at the moment, the vision is for something initially like this (but bigger) …
That will ultimately be developed into something like this…
Well, OK… this might be a little ambitious (and too contained) but there’s no point in NOT dreaming big, is there… after all, that’s what dreaming is all about, isn’t it?
Climbing as Mindfulness
Being in the moment
When people talk about mindfulness as being ‘in the moment’, it all seems rather straight forward and therefore easy to achieve – doesn’t it? But truly being in the moment can be much harder to achieve than one might think. But why? Well, probably without out us each realising, our mind, or should I say our attention, is in high demand – largely due to our 24/7 technologically-connected lives. Modern living is taking its toll and it’s making it difficult for us to switch off, find calm and be in the moment. And the evidence to support the belief that our lack of awareness of, or attention to, the present is a major cause of poor well-being that can negatively impact on our mental health.
So where does climbing come in?
Well, anyone who has climbed before – indoors or outdoors – will probably agree that when you are on the wall, working out your feet and hand placements, navigating a route, you tend to be pretty focused (for obvious reasons). Often time at the climbing centre flies by. You become more aware of your body: which muscles you are using (are getting tired), your breathing and level of sweat, which part of your feet or fingers you are using to gain grip and purchase. Very rarely, when on the wall, do you think about checking your phone or wondering what to buy from the supermarket for dinner. Some people describe this lack of attention to things other than the act of climbing itself as being ‘in the zone’ or ‘in flow’. Others call it a heightened state of ‘mindfulness’. They all pretty much mean the same thing, I think: being completely in the moment … consciously in the present.
So, with this in mind, it became more apparent to a colleague and myself at Derrymount – responsible for our Adventure School provision – that climbing might be a fantastic activity to help our students to not only develop their physical skills, overcome fears and barriers, develop self esteem through the effort and determination etc etc (and the list could go on for a long time) BUT the act of climbing could also (maybe?) have positive outcomes on mental health and well-being – if developed, deliberately, as a mindfulness exercise.
Kind of makes sense, doesn’t it?
Anyway, it’s on a bit of a hunch and a ‘well we can at least try it’ attitude that prompted us to try and look into this a bit further. So, the plan …
The plan
In the second week in January 2020, we will be taking a group of young people on a weekly visit to Nottingham Climbing Centre where they will be introduced to climbing and receive a 1.5hr a week (for 7 weeks) period of instruction and opportunity to climb. We’ll encourage the students to be body aware, help them focus on the moment and try and gauge their thoughts, attitudes and awareness of themselves both before, during and at the end of the 7 weeks.
It’s going to interesting to see what impact climbing as mindfulness can have.
Thank you to Alpkit!
We are very grateful to the wonderful people at Alpkit for supporting our 7-week project. The Alpkit Foundation generously donated some money towards the costs of setting up this project, and for that we are very grateful.
NB. Anyone is free to make an application to the Alpkit Foundation, so perhaps a project idea you have might receive their support.
Related post:
M4 demonstrate team work and determination at Walesby
Students from M4 recently tested their fitness skills at Walesby Forest and took part in an assault course and laser quest activity. A great day was had by all, with students demonstrating excellent perseverance and determination when faced with some challenging obstacles and working well together during laser quest, deciding as a team what tactics they would employ.
Cross Country Colwick Country Park 2019
Ten of our students took part in the annual Cross Country Relay Event at Colwick Park this week. A fantastic effort was made by all, with each student completing at least one lap of the mile long course.
The students showed great determination and worked together as a team, competing against several other schools in the county. It was a great morning and many thanks to Nick Robb for organising and leading the event.
Well done everyone!!
Town House – work experience
A great opportunity for some of our year 10/11 students who currently access the home cooking option within school.
A taste of work experience at “The Townhouse” in Arnold under the guidance of head chef Louise and her staff. Our pupils sharpening up their skills in the kitchen prepping food from the mouth-watering menu to serve to the unsuspecting general public of Arnold!!
Jack added “It’s good, I enjoy working in the kitchen” whilst Daniel said “I really like working here, it’s not stressful”. “Very good not stressful what so ever” said Reeve and of course Lydia, “I like working in the kitchen however it drains my energy. The people are friendly”
Watch this space for further updates when they return to the Townhouse on 2nd October. A big thankyou to Alison the manager, Louise, Keegan, Esther & Linda. A mention to Mr Rowland for setting up this amazing opportunity.
R.Ashford/L.Holder
