Awarded - The Gold Standard Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge.

Friday 21 August 2015

Rural Location

Blue Peris is situated in the mountains. This gives us access to some amazing locations, most of which are on our doorstep. However, it also means that the nearest telephone cabinet is situated 8km ( that how far the cables have to go at least!), so are broadband is  sometimes unreliable to say the least. Its back working today, so here is a few pics to give you an idea of what the group has been up to.
The wet weather brought its own rewards, with groups in the beautiful Afon Ddu and Geirionydd gorges, whilst other managed to experience some sea like conditions  in Sit on Top Kayaks on the local lake, Llyn Padarn. We've had lovely time working with the staff and students and wish them a safe journey back home. See you next year!
It was a bit windier once you got on to the main lake!

Teamwork is a important in the groge

Happiness!

Tuesday 18 August 2015

Snowdon & Sunshine

The groups had a great day today, with some very hard work put in by some individuals! Two of the groups headed up Snowdon, whilst a third group headed out to beautiful Anglesey for some great SLT action. There are some pretty tired youngsters around the centre tonight!
A busy day on Snowdon

Hanging around at Cable Bay

Soaking up the sunshine on SLT

Monday 17 August 2015

The sun is shining (finally)

Our groups this week are looking into personal challenge and teamwork as part of their aims and what better way than to go sea level traversing on Anglesey and to climb Snowdon on a day like today.



Wednesday 12 August 2015

Trust and Responsibilty

One of the key learning points that can be achieved by visiting an outdoor education centre such as Blue Peris,  is that young people can be exposed to environments such as a rock face ( not an artificial wall ) and given real responsibility with real risk.

Attached to this risk is trust. It is very easy to make risk a word which implies young people should avoid it at all costs. However,  we feel is not the most effective direction when educating young people. At the centre we openly discuss risk , how to manage it and give our groups experiences to deal with real risk.

One way of achieving this, is letting young people take control of the ropes within a climbing session. In this way pupils can take responsibility and learn to trust their peers.  Obviously we are then on hand to oversee and mange this risk to an acceptable level.

Are they pointing to one of North Wales  talented outdoor education  instructors ?


The group controlling the ropes whilst others climb. 

Thursday 6 August 2015

Misty morning then the sun arrived

"Some of you will be climbing outdoors today" was probably not what the group expected to hear after seeing the misty, foggy, and wet weather out the window. Not quite the 0% chance of rain which was forecast!

Nevertheless, two groups spent the morning canoeing and kayaking on Llyn Padarn before climbing in the afternoon, while the third ventured into the Afon Ddu gorge for an adventure which guaranteed getting wet regardless of the weather!


The power of team work  whilst canoeing 

Blue Peris Education Outdoor Education Centre


Gorge walking in North Wales on a residential visit


Rock Climbing on an Outdoor Education Visit in North Wales


Wednesday 5 August 2015

Another wet day above and below ground

After looking out of the window this morning 2 groups decided to head for the gorge and 1 group went underground  in a mine to make the most of what the welsh summer weather was predicting.
Both gorge groups had a great day learning about the environment and jumping in whilst the mining group learnt about the history of an old



slate mine, climbed waterfalls and explored endless passageways to find their way out of the top.
 

Tuesday 4 August 2015

Ropes and Rafts

Despite the weather, we managed a great morning of activities around the centre, combining low ropes, problem solving and orienteering, to promote teamwork for the days ahead. The activities culminated in a improvised raft building session, down at the local lake. Most rafts stayed together.. for a while. Needless to say everyone ended up in the water at some point.