Polar explorer visits Pennthorpe

Mark Wood has undertaken no less than 30 expeditions to date, including a solo expedition to the South Geographic Pole followed directly by a 200 mile solo crossing of the Arctic Ocean to the Geographic North Pole.

Mark is not only a passionate explorer; he is a passionate educator, keen to share his experiences with children using the power of modern technology.

En route to Mount Everest in 2014 he connected visually via Skype to over 100,000 students around the world – in real time.

Nick Parsons, head of humanities at Pennthorpe School in Rudgwick has followed Mark’s work for some time, so when he saw that Mark was returning to the UK upon completion of his latest expedition, Nick spotted an opportunity and invited Mark to visit the school– what a thrill when he accepted!

A charming and animated character, Mark captivated the children with his stories, brought to life with some fairly legendary show-and-tell objects (a polar bear tooth; a submersion suit for swimming between icebergs; traditional inuit snow goggles; his trusty sledge…).

The children discovered how dry the Arctic air is and what it means to be all alone in the South Pole.

They learned how Mark coped with complete isolation and heard how he saved his friend’s life on Mount Everest.

What would you do if you came across a polar bear? How would you cope if the sea ice melted beneath your feet and you had to get across the open channel?

It was a memorable day to say the least, with more to look forward to.

In 2017, Mark is planning to take the world’s children on an expedition to climb Mount Everest.

Using virtual reality headsets, children will be able to ‘share the wonder’ as Mark scales the world’s highest peak.

You can bet Mr. Parsons is already logging the dates in the Pennthorpe school diary.