11 May Newsletter 11.05.14 - 10th anniversary

Dear reader!

The most beautiful time of the year is in May, when both the students and the trees are in bloom. On May 2, we raised the flag and officially celebrated Ranum Efterskole's 10th birthday. It was 10 years ago that the board, teachers and the mayor broke ground for Ranum Efterskole and started the construction of the dining hall and common room between Kærvej 6 and 8. That day was real for the initiative group, soon the future staff and students could see an afterschool grow out of the former college.

We celebrated the day with the launch of the school's new logo and profile - followed by the unveiling of a marker stone. The stone marks a place in the centre, which is the lexical meaning of "Ranum" according to Gyldendal's encyclopaedia. At the same time, the marker also helps to mark a common around the school, there can not be a centre without a circle around it. And we have cast 200 friendship plates from the same metal as the plaque, which will be distributed to all the world's friendship schools and organisations all over the world over the next few years.

Of course, we have no patent on being the centre of Denmark or the world, even though we have a name for it. And it's completely unintentional and taken out of a random context, if someone should see the sticker as a comment on the debate about outlying Denmark and the debate about central cities etc. 🙂 The birthday was also celebrated with a good dinner, RE Logo cake and of course a number of speeches.

The evening was rounded off with a super concert by the Ivan Petersen trio.

During the week, all students took written tests in FS10 and FSA, as well as Cambridge tests. The tests have gone well and with good engagement from the students.

Rehearsal time is both a strain and a relief for many students and in the evenings the focus has been on fun and fellowship. Among other things, students have been writing on their Memory Book, the Blue Book. The contact groups are buzzing with good stories and a little secrecy, and in the coming weeks pictures of all the contact groups will be taken for the community pages.

Mobile-free community for 2 weeks: For a couple of weeks, we have been focusing on the influence of mobile phones on the experience of community, and a survey showed that more than half of the students use their phones while they are with others in the contact group, at dinner, in the banqueting hall and in class. Both students and teachers have raised the topic for debate, and therefore we in the pedagogical committee have initiated an experiment where we will encourage students to keep their mobile phones in their rooms for the next 2 weeks. Then we might be able to experience some of the intensity of the first mobile-free weeks of the school year. This is an experiment and we will also evaluate it with students and staff after the next couple of weeks.

This Youtube video puts the experiment in a poetic perspective.

In the coming week there are again exams and preliminaries to the oral exams. We also have preparations for the Parents and Siblings Weekend on 23-24 May, where students will help give their families an experience of after-school life, as well as present their latest profile trips.
Saturday 24 May at 14.00 we have a birthday present for all current teenagers and parents. We've invited brain researcher and lecturer Ann-Elisabeth Knudsen to talk about how to tackle moving back home after a post-school year with outlooks and experiences from around the world and 300 friends. Registration via Schoolplan.

The music students are also getting ready for the Aftryks Festival the following week. They will be composing their own songs and lyrics, and practicing to perform in front of the 15 or so other after-school clubs taking part in the festival. It is optional for the students to choose whether they want to participate in Aftryk or join the science and culture expedition.

Best regards and have a great week!
Olav Storm Johannsen
supervisor