The outdoor education programme provides fourth year students with a ten week module, which takes place every wednesday morning. The aim of this module is to enjoy activity in the outdoors. Unfortunatley 'activity' seems to be a swear word for some studentswho rate changing the channel or turning the page of J17 as their highest rate of activity!!! For others, enjoying themselves seems to be 'uncool', especially in the company of teachers!! ("Boring" is the most overused word in the Riversdale vocabulary!) Usually, after the first outing, the previous reluctant participants have been converted and may even have enjoyed themselves!??! The first activity is usually a brisk walk to the top of the sugarloaf or Maulin mountain or around the lakes of Lough Bray. This first shows students that they will have to be prepared for the rest of the module. Weather conditions are often much different at the top of Maulin that they are in the school carpark, so being prepared with raingear, a change of shoes or tracksuit is advised. A hat and glooves are usually in worn in the Irish hills are usually at any time of year- and keeping warm overweighs being seen in a silly looking hat (as many wearers of my silly hats will admit!)
Activities vary during the module but usually involve two or three hill-walks, two sessions of orienteering, a visit to Newgrange or the Zoo and a trip to an indoor rock-climbing wall (the only indoor part of an outdoor module). As the school is lucky enough to have it's own cooking equipment, canoeing is an important part of the programme. This usually takes place at Portmarnock strand, which is an ideal location for learning the basics of surfing the waves-depending on your ability! Capsizing is also an inescapeable part of canoeing, as everybody has found out. But canoeing also involves the "putting-on-your-wetsuit-backwards" competition or the "My-feet-are-stuck-in-wetsuit-dance" dance! Some choose to ignore the canoes altogether and enjoy a swim-with or without a wetsuit!!
The Transition year outdoor education programme has been running successfully for the last four years and many students have enjoyed and apprecciated their activities. Many other schools are envious of ouir programme as a very few schools have the luxury of a school minibus, or their own canoeing equipment (or wonderful, talented teachers??!!) This year we are joining forces with Home Economics class and the Sports and Leisure module to organise a camping trip in the last term. Students will use the skills they have learned in each of the modules to prepare and take part in a weekend camping trip. -MS. QUANE
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