15 Mar Successful weekend, Point Black concert, lecture and crisis

Dear reader!
Thank you to everyone who visited Ranum Efterskole this weekend. Saturday for the Interview with New Students and Sunday for the Open House. Despite the fact that the winter cold won't let up, there are a lot of great expectations sprouting in the future students.
Current student teams hosted a beautiful display of their culture and profile subjects in the canteen, as well as a gastronomic show in the Kærhuset dining room. Guests and students could taste the ant and besides the shark and swordfish, the students served small snacks to the guests at the entrance. The ants were quite sour!

The new pupils were given school clothes and interviewed about their schooling and expectations for the coming year. On Sunday, the Performance team put on two great performances in the Cultural Hall. Although the team was missing a number of students who were on scuba diving courses, they put on a show that took the breath away.

During the week, the academic lessons have been predominantly busy. In the assembly on Tuesday, the focus was on the current media theme of organ donation and the pupils were challenged on their attitude to this through a presentation and two TV spots. In the citizenship lesson for 10th grade, we were visited by a police officer and a consultant in the field of addiction. They focussed on issues such as cannabis abuse, etc. The pupils listened intently and had many questions on the subject.

On Sunday evening, the student band The Barks of the Woods played a great concert in the banquet hall. They almost blew the students out of the hall and it was a really festive end to a great weekend. See more pictures up FB - link. On Monday we had a visit from our friendship school in India, Mr. Regi was a guest of the India team, who arranged a nice dinner for the whole school in the canteen. Everyone ate with their fingers and again we had a different experience in our world kitchen.
On Wednesday night, the band Point Black played at Imaginationloftet and created an exciting concert experience.

Pedagogical Committee met on Tuesday afternoon and concluded that things went very well and that there were very few challenges. Unfortunately, this changed on Wednesday morning when, on the basis of a rumour, we decided to test a group of boys for cannabis. Unfortunately, the tests turned out to be positive and we sent the students home. The episode came as a shock to many pupils, and several were upset and needed to talk it through with each other and us adults. We therefore spent part of Thursday turning the situation around. And it is my experience that both parents and pupils are clear that school rules must be respected and we cannot have affected pupils at school whether they have smoked at the weekend or at any other time. It can be described as a crisis when several pupils are sent home, and it is a very unpleasant situation for everyone. It also reflects a crisis and a dilemma in our society, because pupils hear in the media the country's leading addiction experts speak in favour of legalising cannabis and the Mayor of Copenhagen speaks in favour of sales from 7-Eleven stores, while we adults at the school have to defend the school's values in our rules and framework. On Sunday, all parents who are interested are invited to a dialogue meeting about the situation at 7.30pm.

Morning exercise and croissant for everyone! - see pictures here

Today, Friday, all teachers had a development day. The theme was among other things abuse problems among young people. We were visited by a consultant who reflected on the situation and it was a good way to process the situation. Subsequently, we have planned the last part of the school year and are looking forward to inviting parents and siblings to a family weekend at Ranum Efterskole on 4-5 May. Invitation and registration will be sent out to current student teams in the coming week.

In the coming week there is also a lot going on at Ranum Efterskole. On Sunday 115 parents and siblings have signed up for a Nepal lecture in the banqueting hall by the students. On Wednesday we will be visited by a drama efterskole and our own Performance Team will give a show for everyone at the school on Friday. On Thursday 35 students will travel to Aalborg to see the dramatisation of Jacob Ejersbo's Africa trilogy EKSIL, after they have read the book in Danish. It will be a completely normal Ranum Efterskole week, and hopefully we can all look constructively forward again.

Although spring is not really going to show up, it is about time to get the bikes out again and bring them up to the school. We would really like students to have a bike in legal condition ready by Easter.

Best regards and have a great weekend!

Olav Storm Johannsen
supervisor

The diving weekend was both long and hard, but also an important test of the challenges of the Red Sea in week 16.

NB. The announced lockout of teachers at Ranum Efterskole does not mean that the school's students will be sent home in the first place. We have developed a plan for supervision and self-activation among the students under the school's management. Further information will be sent directly to the school's current student teams and parents.