The Staff
Organisation of Educational Visits
Mr. Davison has provided this information:-
Mr. T.C. Davison has organised or accompanied one hundred educational visits to Germany, France, Belgium and in England; these trips have lasted between 2 and 10 days and have usually been accommodated in Youth Hostels, although he has also been involved in 6 home-to-home exchanges, three of which were Rugby Football visits, and one visit to a Butlins Holiday camp, jointly run with another school; he has also assisted in three outdoor education weeks at Scout Dyke Outdoor Education Centre. 27 visits have been organised on behalf of Willowgarth High School.
Destinations of these visits have included (in the U.K.) Langsett (10 trips), Mankinholes (2), Eyam (1), Castleton (1), Hathersage (1), High Hoyland (9), Scout Dyke (3), Ayr(1), Staithes(1) and abroad: Boulogne (21 visits), Aachen (8), Hamburg (7), Lille (6), Dieppe (4), Calais (1)* and one trip to Namur in Belgium. In addition, Mr. Davison has acted as escort for 13 journey to and from Westphalia, and 10 journeys to and from Lille in association with the Yorkshire Exchange Committees.
Mr. Davison is not formally qualified in leadership, but was regarded as adequately qualified by experience to lead hill-walks in the Peak District by the staff of Scout Dyke Outdoor Education Centre; two thirds (66) of these trips were personally planned (usually with on-site preparation: destinations are also revisited privately in his own time) and organised by Mr. Davison without any input from commercial travel firms: thus he is also qualified by experience to organise and lead visits to the current Willowgarth destinations of Aachen and Hamburg. He is a qualified minibus driver, and was certified medically fit for this purpose in 1998.
Mr. Davison has an intimate acquaintance with the areas visited, backed up by an encyclopaedic knowledge of public transport and ferry systems necessary to reach the chosen destination; he is also able to obtain beneficial fares for these journeys.
He is fluent in German and French (and can understand simple Flemish) which enables him to deal with the day-to-day running of the trips whilst abroad.
* this visit was also available to parents, staff and governors.
Back to top
Mr. Watts provides this information about himself and outdoor pursuits:---
"I started walking, camping and Youth Hostelling with school groups in 1971 at Cudworth County Secondary School and continued with Cudworth Middle School.
I became Mountain Leadership trained in 1973 when I took the Mountain Leadership Introductory Course. Since then I have been gaining experience.
I went on my first Burnsall Camp in 1973 from Cudworth Secondary School and helped to run the final 50th. Burnsall Camp in 1998 with Willowgarth High School.
While at Cudworth I also went on other extended Educational visits to Horton in Ribblesdale and with the help of Mrs Henry planned and organised the first Rydal visit in 1983. With the help of Miss Chamberlain since 1987 this visit has continued each year for the last 18 years.
At Cudworth I walked over 9,500 miles on school visits, some on extended Educational visits, some at weekends and some during the holidays. The longer walks included The Pennine Way, The Coast To Coast, The Cleveland Way, The Pembrokeshire Coast Path and The West Highland Way, which we walked during the summer holidays.
Since coming to Willowgarth as teacher in charge of Outdoor Education I have continued taking groups off walking, camping and Youth Hostelling most weekends and with the help of Miss Chamberlain and other staff members have continued to organise Educational visits at Rydal and Burnsall. Since Burnsall finished Miss. Chamberlain and I have introduced new visits to Eskdale in the Lake District, then Trig Point 49, at Staithes and Wydale near Pickering. For each new venue, new walks and activities have to be produced and checked for safety and suitability for the age of the group concerned. Miss Chamberlain produces new booklets for each of the new visits, this planning being carried out during weekends and school holidays.
I took the Basic Expedition Training Award (BETA), organised by The Central Council of Physical Recreation, in 1995 to augment the experience I have gained leading school groups over the last 29 years.
Over the last 10 years at Willowgarth I have taken children along the Pennine Way, The Nidderdale Way, The Lyke Wake Walk, Offas Dike Path and Lady Anne's Way. I have now walked over 5000 miles with Willowgarth pupils on school visits, a lot of it in my own time.
We are now in the planning stages of another new visit for the next October holiday (2001 ) - a weekend at an Outdoor Centre at Askrigg in order to offer the children a chance to go caving and canoeing. A preliminary visit has already been made of the suitability of the Centre and a check on the staff qualifications.
A basic team of Miss Chamberlain and I has allowed us to work to our strengths whilst organising and running School extended visits. We have tried to introduce new staff into the visits along side us. This has allowed us to keep the main organisation system in place, helping us through experience, to keep the visits as safe and as well organised as possible. The new staff are able to introduce new ideas and activities into the visits, depending on their expertise and qualifications, after due consideration and consultation.
Two of the new activities introduced to the Wydale visit for Year 9 pupils are horse riding at a local stables under the supervision of Mrs Lomas and climbing in a local quarry near to the Wydale Centre with Mr C. Taylor, who is qualified to instruct people in single pitch climbing.
I believe that the reason that the past visits have continue to be successful and safe is that the staff who go on the visits have worked as a team, putting the pupils first."
Back to top
