30 Sep Newsletter 30 September 2011

Dear reader!
The great weekend with fantastic weather and a great atmosphere continued throughout the week, and although both teachers and students were really tired after a hectic Parents' Day and a record Open Day on Sunday, we have not had less activity this week. We have held a science festival with live physics experiments, a TV crew from 24Nordjyske came to visit together with Nordjyske, and the students have been introduced to molecular gastronomy, the laws of physics, wavelengths and not least a star trip with hot cocoa on Wednesday evening. 

The kitchen has been an active player in the Natural Science Festival, and in addition to the gastronimic show on stage in the banquet hall, the students have also experienced having their dinner flambéed in cognac. On Thursday afternoon, we ended 10 terrific days of work with a blast of a final assembly, where all teachers were present and where the students raised the roof of the banquet hall with singing and good mood!

Next week a new chapter starts at Ranum Efterskoleas we welcome 16 young visiting students from Thailand on Saturday. The international students, who are the boddies for the Thai guests, will arrive one day before the other students and are responsible for the intro programme and accommodation. The Thai students will live together with their boddies and the other Danish students in the rooms, and it will be a cultural encounter that will certainly challenge both Danish and foreign students. This is also one of the purposes of the visit. The Thai students will be at the school for a week and in week 41 they will join the gastronomy team in Copenhagen on an educational journey in democracy, design and culture. During the autumn holidays they will visit their boddies in 16 Danish homes and after the holidays we will end with a week at efterskolen, where there will be a special focus on Thai culture. Among other things, the guests will organise a Thai evening for all of us.
International Coordinator Mette Støttrup at Ranum Efteskole has worked closely with teacher Therese Olsen on the programme, preparing the Danish students for the meeting. It will be exciting!

On Sunday, the day of the after-schools, young people from The Circus Factory school and inspired the future students to choose the new profile subject of Circus Imagination for the next school year.

Old school day.
In addition to welcoming the guest students from Thailand, we also expect about 300 students to the Gl. pupils day tomorrow Saturday between 13-17. It is made an open program with barbecue, tour, singing followed by coffee and cake. We look forward to a warm and wonderful reunion with everyone!

Sunday evening sees the return of all students from the extended weekend and the deadline for submitting ballots for the upcoming 2nd profile trip. Here the choice is between skills classes on Mondays, culture and profile classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and movement classes on Thursdays. The exercise of making choices and decisions is central to the formative process of an afterschool year at Ranum. On behalf of the Voluntary Parent Council, I have promised to tell you that there will be a meeting at 7pm. Meeting place in the hall to the banquet hall.
 

During the coming week the final preparations for the upcoming profile trip are in full swing, just as the book subjects are rounding off and moving on to week 43. On Thursday, the divers leave for Turkey, this time with their own suits and equipment from the equipment bank. They will complete their OW diver training and experience the Turkish culture and way of life. This weekend, the RIC students will head to Wales to attend Yale University College in Wrexham for a week. On Sunday, the sailors head to France to take advantage of the last Mediterranean heat for 5 days of sailing aboard 4 modern sailboats. The Adventure and Riding girls head to the Czech Republic to be challenged in the mountainous countryside. On Monday early morning the Gastronomy team leaves for Copenhagen together with the Thai students and the same morning Design, Media and Dance set course for Berlin where 4 days of super intense creative experiences and cultural encounters await. You can follow along here on the website, where there will be photos and news from the students' experiences along the way.

Pedagogical last weekend we had an incident where 2 students drank 2 breezer when they were celebrating one of them's birthday. It happened in circumstances that did not involve others, and confronted with the rumour, they both admitted it. After a home visit for clarification, a solution has been found to follow up the two pupils closely so that trust can be restored. We also had to ask 3 pupils to be cleared about smoking when, after their parents had left on Saturday, they were tempted to smoke and were confronted by a teacher. It is not unknown for school rules to be broken this weekend as it is tempting to let go once parents have left and the pressure is off.

Parkour is a new club subject and there are broken boundaries in the cool way, as well as challenged physical laws for real.

We are facing a very exciting profile journey and there will be a lot of experiences to pass on. The many stories will be part of our common afterschool narrative, which we will share in the following weeks. Look forward to following along!

Yours sincerely
Olav Storm
supervisor