Borneo Expedition

On the 28th July this year twelve students from the college will be flying out to Borneo for a three week expedition

The expedition (organised through Outlook Expeditions) will involve Sun Bear conservation project work, a jungle survival camp and a trek up Mt Kinabalu (at 4000 metres high, the highest peak in South East Asia).

The students will be travelling out with an Expedition Leader provided by Outlook Expeditions, and with Chris Morrell, the Link Teacher from the college.

The group was formed back in March 2010, following a presentation in assemblies to Year 10 and 11 by Outlook Expeditions. There was a massive and enthusiastic response from the students, with well over 100 signing up for further information. We then organised a parents evening for any students and their parents who were really interested, and a packed hall heard the Outlook representative give a much more detailed presentation about the trip. Following this the actual expedition group was then established as initially eleven students signed up, to be joined by the twelfth a couple of months later.

Since then the group have been incredibly busy and hard at work fundraising in order to pay for their places on the expedition. All the students, with fantastic support from their families, have raised considerable sums of money, through simply working part time, to applying for sponsorship from various companies, and also selling unwanted items at car boot sales and on eBay! In addition to this the group as a whole have been taking part in lots of joint fundraising activities: they are now all expert bag packers, having had loads of practice at Tescos, Morrisons and the local Co-op. They completed a sponsored night hike across Dartmoor, back in October 2010 (in some very eerie, misty conditions!); they have baked and sold cakes to appreciative college staff; they have washed cars, shifted furniture.

As well as taking part in joint fundraising events, the whole group have experienced three "Group Development Days", organised by Outlook Expeditions, and completed a weekend training expedition up in Snowdonia in April this year - which included a challenging ascent of one the main 3000 foot mountains, and a very scary abseil down a 150 foot column!

The purpose of the expedition, including the fundraising and preparation stages, is to enable these young people to grow in self-confidence and develop a wide range of essential "life skills", many of which can only be learned outside a classroom. By the time they return from Borneo, on Wednesday August 17^th, they will all have learned how to manage their time, manage a group budget, and use their initiative to book accommodation in a foreign country, to mention but a few of the invaluable skills acquired.

Over the past twelve months the students have been an absolute credit to themselves, their families and the college, in their dedication, commitment and sheer hard work. Equally, we would like to thank the staff at the school for all their kind donations and help over the last year. We look forward to sharing our experiences with the college in September!

Chris Morrell and the Expedition Team