Calne pupils set to live life of warrior (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)
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Calne pupils set to live life of warrior
12:00pm Monday 23rd January 2012 in Calne By Tom Mooney
Back, staff members Jan Young, Hannah Dibb, Louiza Bruce, Lisa Newman; middle, Callum Marshall, Kyle Dyke, George Yeoman, Calum Carter; Front, Richard Lang, Mal Crosby
They certainly don’t do things by halves at Spring-fields Academy.
Last year, headteacher Trystan Williams took a group of students on an epic trip to the Arctic Circle, where they encountered polar bears and -40C temperatures.
Now they are off to Tanzania, in east Africa, where they will be living with Maasai warriors for nine days.
Mr Williams said: “We are taking about 29 people from different schools to live with the Maasai. We want to experience their journey and show the children what their lives are like.
“It’s going to be a massive challenge for us once again but we are all looking forward to it.”
Pupils from more than 200 schools sent in applications for the trip and 58, including nine from Springfields, have been shortlisted for a training weekend in the Brecon Beacons this month.
They will be joined on the training weekend by Alan Chambers, the polar explorer who accompanied them to the Arctic, and former Wales and British Lions rugby star Scott Quinnell, who is a long-time supporter of the school.
Mr Williams said: “The BBC cameras will be there as well to follow our journey from the start.
“It will be good preparation for the children. In Tanzania we will be doing things like going down the Great Rift Valley and ending up in the Ngorongoro Crater. It will be a tough challenge.”
And Mr Williams said they will not be stopping at Tanzania.
What started as one adventure to the Arctic Circle has developed into a series of trips under the umbrella of ‘extreme classrooms’.
The first foray was captured by BBC cameras for a half-hour documentary. Now the Tanzania trip in the summer will be turned into a three-part BBC One series.
There are also other trips in the pipeline, to the Nevada desert and Mount Everest base camp.
Mr Williams said: “We want to develop the concept of extreme classrooms. This is a different way of looking at education because I think too often we play it safe.”
