Challenges At The Runways End

A group of children from different classes spent a day building their physical, team building and communication skills with a trip to the Runways End Outdoor Centre before half term. Activities included low ropes, climbing and air rifle shooting.

The Runways End Outdoor Centre is a Hampshire County Council facility that offers school and community groups the opportunity to develop positive physical and social abilities and behaviours in young people. Activities offered encourage young people to challenge themselves, build their confidence and improve their social and communication skills. We spent a day at the centre with their fully trained and experienced team of staff.

The day began with the low ropes - a forest course built in the trees that require physical strength and skill in order to move from the start of the course to the destination. They also require team work. In order to successfully complete many of the low rope challenges, it is essential for children to work together, communicate clearly and support each other. Analise Hanson of 4KB particularly enjoyed the low ropes, saying "My favourite activity was the low ropes as we had to work extremely hard as a team"

When faced with the climbing wall (it's really high!), some children were really excited, whilst others found the prospect particularly daunting. Team spirit kicked in though, and positive encouragement from their peers meant that everyone was able to climb higher than they initially believed they could. In order to climb the wall, children has to support each other; for each child climbing, three more were feeding their safety ropes. Azlan Latif of 5CLa said "My favourite activity at Runways End was rock climbing because it was fun and I managed to climb all the way to the top. I felt very proud of myself. It boosted my confidence and I have used that confidence in school, especially in P.E"

Finally, the day finished with some air rifle shooting which required a very different set of skills - the ability to listen, follow clear and important instructions, handling equipment safely and using it in a controlled environment. This was much more of an individual activity, and came as a welcome change after a long day of very physical exertion.

We can see how the time at Runways End benefitted those children who participated, and the children recognise this too. Rosie Amodeo of 5PW said "It helped to build our confidence to do things we wouldn't normally do", and Libbi-Louise Andrews and 5PW added "Doing all of the activities helped our teamwork skills". We hope to take children back to the Runways End centre in future and would like to thank the team of staff who assisted us for the day for their facilitation.