It’s usually the students who have reason to celebrate their qualifications at Dame Allan’s Schools, Fenham, but this time it’s three members of staff.
Dr David Leese, Mr Mark Lynch and Mr Mike Salisbury reached new heights as they passed their Mountain Leader Award. This award means they are qualified to lead groups of children up the highest mountains in Britain and is a real achievement for the Dame Allan’s Outdoor Leadership and Education (OLED) department.
In order to qualify, the trio completed years of training and assessment, including a week-long course in rope work, navigation, camp craft and dealing with emergency situations in the Helvellyn range, a three-year consolidation period followed before taking on the qualifying week in the Lake District. This involved assessments in map reading, negotiating steep ground, leading a group safely, dealing with emergency scenarios, wild camping, weather forecasting and rope work. David Leese described it as: ‘pretty arduous, a bit like taking your driving test continuously for a week!’
The qualification is yet another feather in the cap for the chemistry, English and geography teachers, who join four other qualified Mountain Leaders at Dame Allan’s. They are already experienced in leading expeditions including for the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the John Muir Award. Mark Lynch said: ‘Between us we already had over 70 years of experience in outdoor expeditions, but it’s important to keep learning and refining your skills, which is exactly what the Mountain Training organisation has helped us to do.’
Plans are already being made for the leaders to use their new qualifications. Geography teacher Mike Salisbury is particularly experienced and has worked on World Challenge expeditions to remote locations across the globe, including Namibia, Botswana, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, India and Zambia. This qualification means Mike will be able to lead World Challenge expeditions going forward. Mike was quick to point out the advantages of such expeditions for students: ‘Outdoor learning teaches students a great deal about preparation, teamwork, courage and perseverance, vital life skills which we aim to equip all our students with at Dame Allan’s.’
Dr John Hind, Principal at Dame Allan’s Schools, said: ‘Once again I am really impressed with the drive of members of staff to go above and beyond not only for personal development, but for the benefit of our students. Our OLED department has an excellent reputation for the opportunities it offers students, we regularly have large numbers on the hills across the county and beyond thanks to our dedicated, enthusiastic and qualified members of staff.’