Atlantic Academy’s Funded Sailing Sessions

Over the last 4 weeks students for Atlantic Academy Secondary School have been coming down to ASC Portland for a funded sailing series.

The students had the opportunity to either try a new skill or work on their existing ailing skills. By the end of the series many of the students received their RYA 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, we saw the students gain huge amount of confidence and independence.

“Their teamwork skills and their communication has really developed as well which is nice to see”

– Billie Barnwell, Senior Instructor ASC Portland.

“It’s developed our teamwork skills”

– Atlantic Academy student

Sailing is an incredible way to develop transferable life skills in young people that benefit them not only on the water but impact their everyday lives. The teachers from Atlantic Academy were impressed with how concentration and confidence has improved at school, which they have attributed to the students taking part in these sailing sessions.

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. Our instructors are excellent at showing the students that even shore-based sessions can be engaging and delivered in a way that suits their learning style.

The final session was a highlight for many of the students and saw them using all of the skill they had learnt over the 4 weeks to undertake a longer journey to the beach. Being able to head further from shore and sail across the harbour was a great achievement for the students. Once at the beach our instructors, Lewis and Billy, 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.

“I think this was a good way of explaining because it was fun as well”

– Atlantic Academy student (on the beach theory session).  

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.

by Holly Jones, Senior Instructor at ASC Portland

Holly studied marine biology and oceanography at university and has experience working in marine conservation and scientific research. This allows her to give the students a thorough insight into the field and answer lots of the questions they might have during the sessions. She is passionate about showing young people the incredible biodiversity we have here in the UK and why it is important to protect these areas. She hopes this programme will encourage young people to take an active role in combating environmental issues.