Brighton students are all at sea - but in a good way

Cardinal Newman School in Brighton has formed a partnership with Lagoon Watersports to run BTEC outdoor education courses for students.
Cardinal Newman students get hands-on experienceCardinal Newman students get hands-on experience
Cardinal Newman students get hands-on experience

The courses include students taking RYA sailing and windsurfing courses and becoming RYA instructors while qualifying to work in outdoor activities or move to further education in sport management. There’s an open day about the courses tomorrow (April 24).

Paul Miller, head at Newman College, said: “As a keen water sports enthusiast and windsurfing and sailing instructor I always wanted to introduce more of this at Cardinal Newman School.

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“For years we ran outdoor activity courses at Hove Lagoon but I wanted to run something where our older students took it more seriously and ended up qualified to work in the outdoor education world.

Enjoying time on the water...Enjoying time on the water...
Enjoying time on the water...

“After months of planning with Nick and Harvey at Hove Lagoon the college formed a partnership where we delivered most of the theory in the classroom using our own PE teachers, and Lagoon Watersports delivered all the practical activities and instructor training at the Lagoon.

“The first cohort are now coming to the end of their two year course and, even with Covid getting in the way, have made great progress towards becoming qualified to teach watersports as a career or to go to university.

“The first year we ran the BTEC sport qualification as our staff were more used to this qualification and we selected the outdoor education modules.

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“For the second year though we switched to the BTEC Outdoor Education course and this enabled the instructors at the lagoon to deliver more of the theory side and be more involved in assessments. Students have two days at the lagoon and three days in college so it is a pretty full on course, but they thrive on being busy.

“They have gained so much in not only their personal performance but also in their confidence.”

Nick Scott, centre manager at Lagoon Watersports, said: “Students take part in a wide variety of activities with us.

“Our ‘core’ sports are sailing, windsurfing, paddleboarding, and cable wakeboarding.”

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