02 Sep We're opening up to all things new!
Dear Reader,
Wow for a week! We are completely blown away by the commitment and energy level the students bring to the table. From water sports weekends, to home stays, to evening activities, it's full steam ahead. In this week's newsletter, we'll take a look at some of the new things, including the new staff at the school.
It's a bit of a privilege as a teacher to be able to sit back and just let the students take control. When they suggest evening activities, take the lead on projects, and can see the point in shaping their own year.
Read much more about what the students' week actually had to offer, right below:
Water Sports Weekend
So with water, sunshine and activities to suit all tastes, a weekend is probably full beforehand. Okay, maybe take off the sunscreen. But a solid weekend you still have!
The students' water sports weekend started on Friday, with students gathering at 3pm for the weekend assembly. Weekend assembly is a tradition that is held every weekend. Here, students are given the framework for the weekend, they can sign up for different activities and make suggestions for additional activities. At the meeting, the pupils were given the whole weekend programme, which was, of course, all about water.
With the weather on our side, the brave students set off for an evening sail after supper. In addition, SUP was offered to those students who wanted to give it a try.
Saturday - wind and sails!
Saturday is always the busiest day of the weekend, and the Water Sports Weekend is no exception. Saturday was all about sailing, beach trips, windsurfing and SUP, A.K.A.: all the good stuff from the water. Mick Johns, sailing teacher here at Ranum Efterskole, says there were over 300 students out sailing on Saturday. They sailed in alternating teams, swapping every hour. It's just amazing that so many give it a shot and just throw themselves into it! See pictures from Mick's Saturday, right here:
When you have such a great day on the water, with about 430 students spread around Rønbjerg, you can get a little tired in the arms. A couple of clever SUP-board students discovered this, and had a drag after the boats, as energy levels were low. See photos from the fun rides, in the gallery below.
Sunday started off with thunderstorms, so the beautiful weekend weather had gone into protest. One suspects that the weather gods were aware of the Sunday clean-up at school, which the students then had to carry out as the rain descended outside. Unfortunately 😉
After the plants were watered and the students swung their cleaning cloths, a bunch of happy and red-skinned students came on the water for a game of racing.
In addition, there were about 45 students in Klimøller for a game of surf.
All in all, a fantastic weekend where the students really got the most out of their efterskoleear.
New faces adorn the school!
As the new school year has started, we have had to draw on new resources to keep up here at the school. Below we will briefly introduce the new staff:
Daniel:
Daniel is a maths, water sports and English teacher from Aarhus. Daniel has a background as a primary school teacher, and has also been a lifeguard with the Danish Lifesaving Foundation for 10 years. Daniel has already taken the big step, and partly moved to Ranum, together with 4 other teachers from the school. Welcome to the school, Daniel!
Mette:
Mette Mahoney is a Spanish, sociology, yoga and global perspectives teacher. She got a jump start on her job when she went with the yoga team to Mexico before the summer break. Mette is not a trained teacher, but has a background in communication and mediation. She has also taught Spanish and yoga in the past, even at night school. Welcome to the school, Mette!
Sif:
Sif started here at Ranum in January 2022, as an intern from the marketing economics study. After 3 months of internship, she was not to tear away from the place again, and has now even moved to Ranum, in collective with 3 other teachers from efterskolen. Sif works in the marketing office, and also teaches media, as well as running the SoMe team. Welcome back, Sif!
Hanga
Like Sif, Hanga started out in January as a diving trainee. Since then she has found love here at Ranum, in her Ann-Sophie, with whom she now lives in Næsby, near Ranum. We couldn't let Hanga leave us at all, so she's got a permanent position here at Ranum. Hanga teaches English, Diving, Climbing and Travel & Tourism. Welcome back, Hanga!
David
David is a maths, sailing and science teacher, and comes from a very special background. David started his training as a 1TP4 teacher in 2008. However, student life can take a funny turn, and after 2 years, David decided to take a break. He ended up working as a theatre technician for 10 years, and even became a production manager. In the summer of 2019, David went back to school, and in the summer of 2022, he could graduate as a efterskoleeacher. He was immediately hired at Ranum, and has even moved here. David is seen above with his beautiful girlfriend Ann Katrine, who is also a 1TP4 teacher. Welcome, David!
In addition to all these great new staff, we are still looking for a new German teacher. So if you have a little German teacher in your heart, please contact the school at info@ranumefterskole.dk
At home with
The contact teacher-student relationship on a efterskole is very special. The contact teacher is usually the person closest to his or her students, and is therefore the person they go to if they have something they need to talk about.
Of course, this is a very personal relationship that the contact group has both internally and with their contact teacher, and we want to support this here at the school. That is why on Wednesday evening we held a "Home At", where the students visited their contact teacher's home, family etc.
Enjoy the pictures below, which give a small insight into the individual evenings, out in some of the cozy rooms
Now you can come to summer school in Ranum again!
Thursday we hit 01/09, and that can only mean 1 thing: summer school registration is open! We've polished off our website, and are now ready with 4 mega cool summer offers here at the school, for next summer. You can choose between:
- International Summer School (2-4 weeks)
- English Language Camp (2 weeks)
- Danish Camp (1 week)
- Cheerleading camp (1+1 week)
All camps are once again under the expert guidance of the pair Tine Valois and Henriette Skjødt-Jakobsen. You can read much more about this year's summer camps, right here: https://www.ranumefterskole.dk/sommercamps/
A presentation to the skies
On Thursday evening, Ranum received a nice visit from Steve Simpson from DropZone Denmark. Steve is a former professional boxer, has been to the Beijing Olympics, is now on the national skydiving team in England, and is chief instructor at the skydiving centre where we will be jumping on September 18. Students on Thursday night got a glimpse into the world of professional skydiving, which is quite crazy for most people.
We thank Steve for a fantastic presentation and look forward to seeing him again at the big launch on 18 September.
We build weekends!
Today, Friday, we had a barley chicken burger for lunch. It was actually a very good start to the weekend, which is in the "Build-It-Yourself" theme. It's a so-called grey weekend, so there are no activities planned, or a theme set in advance. It is up to the students to suggest activities they would like to do, such as going sailing, making a marshmallow bonfire, having a movie marathon, or whatever they feel like doing.
In addition, for the first time this year, students will be allowed to sleep in common areas across the houses. It's so nice and really creates some good bonds across the houses. And with that said, both we and the students are ready for another fantastic weekend here at Ranum Efterskole.
Thank you for now,
This is all we have to report for now, here from Ranum Efterskole College. Thank you for reading and following life here at Ranum.
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