Podcast

Intro

Hi James, It is a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for making contact with us via Mr. Sammels. We are inspired to learn more about the outdoors and how it can help us as humans to grow in confidence and a sense of belonging. We got those heading from a piece of writing that you shared on Linkedin by the way. Let's get going - here we go!

 

Q1

Hi James - could you tell us a bit about what you do and how the outdoors inspires you to work as you do?

 

Q2

We have been thinking about your work, especially with the Outward Bound Trust, how do you cater for people with disabilities, and how does the outdoors help them to achieve?

 

Q3

What do you think of how schools are set up? If you were King or Prime Minister, would you change anything? What advice could you give our parents?

 

Q4

At Mayflower, we have values that inform how we work and learn at Mayflower. Some of these are respect, tolerance and individual liberty. We also believe in collaboration, for example, our tag line is 'Together we can...'. what is your tag line and how do your values shape your work?

 

Q5

I see you were once a Scout. what did you learn from being a Scout and do you recommenced that we become a Scout as well? If so, why?

 

Q6

I see that you do things like hillwalking, white water canoeing and sailing. How might people, who don't have much money, get to try these outdoor learning experiences or is this just for the rich?

 

Q7

We are setting up an outdoor learning curriculum at Mayflower. We are setting up a village of creativity where every pupil in our school will get access to thing like, setting up tents - bushcraft - growing food and cooking it - creating rules and routines that are healthy and having time to sing and make music together. We will have elders and spend more time outdoors. Mr. Sammels is busy talking to us all about how we might make this dream a reality. Do you have any top tips for us?

 

Q8

You have said, that you want to give more young people an outdoor education - you asked on LinkedIn, 'who's with me? Could you explain how you intend to achieve this goal? 

 

Q9

James - I believe that in our school we encourage as much outdoor education and activities as possible. You say that your goal is to have every child in the UK to have the acceptable amount of outdoor education. Do you think many children and schools don't have enough outdoor education. Are they Secondary or Primary - how can we use this podcast to help all schools be better at outdoor learning?

 

Q10

We watched your video - it made us excited and we want to get outdoors - more! It sent tingles down our spines. We felt the hairs on our arms stand up. Mr. Sammels had shiny eyes. How can we get outdoors more if we don't have transport? We live a few miles from Dartmoor - the most incredible classroom ever. How can we get transport to help us to get there every week?

 

Outro

James - you have inspired us beyond belief. We know that being outdoors helps to shape us and make us better humans. Mayflower believe in this as well. We want to find ways of getting more transport for families and schools. Let's work together to make this happen. Thank you for meeting us today, and next time you have a plan to get more young people outdoors to learn, please think of us, because remember,' Together we can...'

Back to our blog

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got

 Rob, Senior Instructor at Aberdovey

If you do what you always do, you'll get what you've always got

Trying new things is the only way to discover our true capabilities. If we continue doing familiar, easy things, we can quickly expect to get bored, disheartened and stuck in a rut. Or, as I prefer, "If you do what you always did, you'll get what you always got".

After seven years working in outdoor education, I've lost count of the amount of times I've shared this quote with groups of young people. Its short, its snappy, its versatile. And it entirely underpins the work that we do here.

It's both easy and tempting to take the same route to work every day. To meet up with the same friends every weekend, and hang out at the same familiar places. Because we know what to expect, how it will feel. It’s going to be okay. Not exciting, not memorable. Just okay.

But should we settle for that? Would it help us meet new people? Discover new places? Try new things? For that, we need to try something new. Drag ourselves out of our comfort zones, tear ourselves away from our phone screens, and get hands on with something we've never tried before. Okay, I agree, that could be kind of scary. It might feel a bit uncomfortable. What if we don't enjoy it?

But what if we do..?

The Outward Bound Trust is basically a new experiences factory. I can't remember a course where someone hasn't tried at least one thing for the first time. Sometimes its summiting a mountain, abseiling down a rock face. Other times it's just making a bed. Honestly, it doesn't matter much. All of these things are met with a sense of accomplishment, a reaffirmation of their capabilities. And that's really powerful.

Because if you can climb that mountain, or kayak that river, what else might you be capable of? When you leave an Outward Bound® course and head home, you may never climb another mountain in your life. That’s fine. Because that experience won't ever go away. Sure, life will throw up other challenges. But you know how it feels to be challenged, you know what it takes to make it through a tough experience. You're stronger, more capable, more resilient. And that all starts simply by saying 'yes' to something new. Because if you do what you always did, you get what you always got.

Throughout each course we focus on taking participants 'out of the moment', and helping them reflect on what their new skills and experiences mean back at home and in school. Our participants will never get a GCSE in Jog and Dip, or a HND in abseiling. But that doesn’t mean that these experiences aren't equally as valuable. In fact, they are some of the most valuable things we can offer to young people. Genuine new experiences.