Over the last four weeks students from Atlantic Academy Secondary School have been visiting the Andrew Simpson Centre on Portland for a funded sailing series.
The students had the opportunity to either try a new skill or work on their existing ailing skills and by the end of the series many received their RYA (Royal Yachting Association) Stage 1 and several who already had sailing experience were able to achieve their RYA Stage 3.
As well as learning and improving sailing skills, the centre said the students gained a huge amount of confidence and independence.
Billie Barnwell, Senior Instructor ASC Portland said: “Their teamwork skills and their communication has really developed which is nice to see.”
A spokesperson for the centre said: “We have seen that enabling students to take a break from the classroom and engage in a physical outdoor activity such as sailing, can greatly improve mental health and performance at school.
The final session was a highlight for many of the students and saw them using all of the skills they had learned over the month to undertake a longer journey to the beach, heading further from shore and sail across the harbour at the beach whilst instructors delivered an interactive theory session getting the students to use materials they found on the beach such as seaweed and pebbles to create artwork showing different navigational buoys.
Continuing, the spokesperson said: “We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with Atlantic Academy and getting more secondary age students out on the water. We are looking forward to seeing some of the students who took part in this series come along to our Youth Sailing Club and helping them develop their skills further.
“Over the next term we have a new group of Atlantic Academy secondary school students coming down to the centre to take part in the same series. We are looking forward to helping them grow in confidence and independence using sailing as a tool for this.”
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