Plymouth College



Welcome to Plymouth College Outdoor Education Blog. Here we will show the vast variety of activities we offer to students throughout the year including Ten Tors, Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Overseas Expeditions, Scuba Diving, Sailing, Paddlesport, Rock Climbing and Mountaineering, Mountain Biking, Power Kiting and much more.

The school website can be reached here http://www.plymouthcollege.com/

Tuesday 31 January 2012

Kayak rolling





This lunch time, Mr Starks and Mr Jackson hit the pool with 4 students who wanted to learn how to roll kayaks. We started by rolling off the side of the pool before moving on to rolling with someone guiding the paddle. Well done to Ollie who managed some rolls on his own and the other 3 should get it cracked by next week

Monday 30 January 2012

Visit to The Barn





Another Climbing Club trip to The Barn with 8 students for some bouldering, top roping and leading. With Mr Jackson and Mr Starks in attendance, the students had plenty of coaching and put in some great performances.

Team Building games in PE






Year 7 & 8 girls PE groups had a break from their Orienteering sessions to take shelter from the rain in the Old Gym and had a go at some team building tasks.

Monday 23 January 2012

Year 7 and 8 PE - Kayaking





Today Mr Jackson and I made full use of a free morning in the pool by taking the Year 7 and 8 PE students kayaking. The session consisted of lots of games to build confidence. The students maneuvered  their bats around using their hands (we'll introduce paddles in their next session) and finished the session with some capsize drills. All of the students really enjoyed their time kayaking and are excited about their next session in two weeks time. Even Mr Jackson (who claims he doesn't like kayaking) enjoyed himself and even managed a roll.

Mr Brice

Climbing club trip to the Barn Jan 23rd



Five students from the Climbing Club spent the evening at The Barn Climbing Centre with Mr Jackson and Miss Gee. We all warmed up on the easiest circuit on the boulder before trying some more difficult problems and moving on to some top-roping later on.

Laura and Abi had a look at some techniques for bouldering on extremely steep ground, and Kay found out just how hard 6c really is! Miss Gee is slowly recovering from a shoulder injury so it was great that she actually got to do some climbing again.

Saturday 21 January 2012

Ten Tors training

Ten Tors training began in true Dartmoor tradition with rain and gusting winds. The 55s were banished from the garden of Whiteworks and sent off to find a suitable campsite somewhere nearby while the 35s got to grips with putting up their tents for the first time. Darkness, rain and cold hands all making it more difficult but soon even Will and Josh had their tent up and everyone was cooking a delicious (or not) evening meal.

Once fed the 35s were allowed the rest of the evening off while the 45s and 55s braved the weather and darkness to do some night navigation before turning in for the night and hoping that the pegs had been put in properly.

Strong winds and constant driving rain were the main feature of Saturday with all teams having to adjust their routes to cope with these unpleasant conditions. The 35s did some extra navigation work around Nun's Cross while the 55s were treated to a tour of the worst terrain on the South Moor courtesy of Mr Jackson.

The next training walk is on 3rd/4th February.