On the 16th February the year 7 students went to Lake Rua to learn to sail.

The purpose of this event was to:

• develop and strengthen relationships between teachers and students

• encourage and develop relationships amongst peers

• give students the opportunity to develop leadership and problem solving skills

• challenge the children to work out side of their comfort zone and experience failure in a positive way

• have fun

I can assure you that all of these objectives were achieved. It was an amazing day and great to see the sense of achievement from all students. A lot of the children were reluctant and anxious at the beginning, but by the end of the day all of the children had experienced sailing a boat solo and conquered their fears. Every student I met getting off the bus at the end of the day had a huge smile.

Our challenge as teachers now is  to bring this experience into the classroom and relate it to the work the children are doing. Encouraging the children to step outside of their comfort zone, to make them understand that failure isn’t a bad thing, it is an important part of the learning process.