04 Nov Newsletter 4. nov. 2011

Dear reader!
After a wonderful weekend, where all students were either on ½ marathon, 10 or 5 km walks in the area around Ranum and Vilsted Lake, everyone gathered again on Sunday evening for a new week.
This week: Monday afternoon saw the start of a number of new skills courses, including fitness, first aid and martial arts. Monday evening saw a concert by the Hunch Bettors and it was a very enjoyable evening. Tuesday saw the start of the new culture and profile subjects: India, Ghana, North and Nepal, and USA, Miami. The new culture and profile subjects are an innovation that builds on our positive experience with Nepal as a profile subject. Although the subjects are shaped by the cultural specificities of the countries, they are based on some of the same activities.

Students learn about the country's culture, religion and social issues such as education, health and politics. Together, this opens up a broad general knowledge, which forms the basis for students to plan their own projects in the country. This could be a visit to a company, school, or orphanage, or a meeting with an NGO. There is a common overall theme, for example, foreign issues, helping in a school or in an environmental programme.
The subjects emphasise personal reflection and the process of education, and one way of processing a large amount of material and many experiences is through communication. Therefore, on Wednesday we were visited by journalist Erik Bjerre, who through reports from his countless expeditions throughout the world showed a number of different ways to process both the personal and the common experience and insight from an expedition. After the lecture, the Nepal team started an evening focusing on cooperation, roles in teams, as well as endurance and especially strengthening each other through both physical and mental challenges. The evening therefore included collaborative tasks and an approx. 15 km hike in the dark with headlamps and a heavy backpack. The catering was Nepal rice, which was eaten from the same dish and with fingers in the dark. Despite the challenges, spirits were high and there was a clear focus on the task. Wednesday evening was also the premiere of the season's Hardball, where guest instructors demonstrated technique and safety for over 50 pupils, mainly boys. Thursday saw the start of the new movement subjects and many pupils attended swimming, volleyball, martial arts and sports cross.

In the session on Tuesday, the RIC team presented their many experiences from the Yale University College of Wrexham in Wales. Afterwards, the equestrian team presented their films and pictures from their trip to the Czech Republic. On Wednesday, we kick-started the new interdisciplinary theme for the next period "Globalisation and World Citizenship". In the week when UNESCO announced that the world's population is over 7 billion, the theme is more relevant than ever, and in the coming periods we will relate to the theme in the subjects and especially in the profile subjects.

Pedagogical we have had a good week, even though 2 girls have left for different personal reasons and a new one has started, we have a very strong student team who are good at backing each other up and solving the small conflicts that naturally occur after the dark hours and everyday life return after the profile trips and the autumn holidays. Throughout the week we have had an increasing focus on students using indesko and it has already helped. The slippers of the week have been chosen to be the rabbit shoes. In recent weeks, we have focused on the academic assessment and given a number of grades in the academic subjects. This also puts a certain pressure on individual students, and it is important to emphasise that the assessments are indicative and that it is not until the end of term tests in December that the level for the individual student is more fixed. The students will receive their grades in the coming week, and they will also experience in e.g. citizenship that there is not a sufficient basis for a grade, but instead there will be a short statement for the team. Students will receive their assessments in the near future. In some subjects there will be grades, in other subjects there will be no grades but a short statement for the team.

Possibility of a professional dialogue on the same weekend as the performance and a parents' meeting about the profile subject trips.
We will send home the report card and statements to all parents by email and at the same time we will send an invitation for a professional interview on the weekend of 3-4 December. This is the same weekend that students show their.

Attention on the weekend of 3-4 December.: Performance performance, and the same weekend that we hold parent meetings around Nepal, Ghana and India, as well as the Nordic and USA profile trips. It is possible to book an interview on Saturday morning for the Nepal and India students' parents, and on Sunday for the North, Ghana and USA. This offer is particularly open to parents who wish to have a more in-depth academic assessment. In addition to interviews with subject teachers, it is also possible to have a guidance interview.

This coming week is bridge-building week for the 10th year, and all 150 students are spread to Aalborg and Års. This means that we are facing a logistically difficult week, where the students must pay close attention to the instructions given at the educational institutions and at the school regarding transport and catering. It is important to emphasise that the students must stay at the school throughout the bridge building week, and that every day at 16.00 we have a gathering for all 10th grade students in bridge building to also create a efterskole life for them.

Year 9 has a number of subject days, during which there is plenty of time and space for immersion in the test subjects. Wednesday is Seminar House Evening. Thursday afternoon and evening are contact group meetings with socialising and several will visit their kt.teacher at home. On Friday, the Parent Council and students will hold the first student party, and students will have dinner at the school at 5.30pm before leaving. We are aware that parent volunteers are still needed...

Best regards and have a great weekend.

Olav Storm
supervisor

NB. information on profile subjects, vaccinations, insurance and co-payment will be sent out by email next week. If you do not receive the information by Friday, you can send an e-mail to mk@ranumefterskole.dk with your email address and we will check if the one we have is correct.