16 Feb Culture Day, PVA winners, Shrovetide and Valentine's Day
Dear reader,
What a great week we've had here at Ranum Efterskole. The students have now gone home for a well-deserved extended weekend, while the Full Host students have travelled to Aarhus. During the week, we have been able to celebrate both Shrovetide and Valentine's Day, so while the students could dress up in costumes on Monday, the school was decorated with hearts on Tuesday. In addition, on Thursday afternoon, a joint assembly was held for the students, where, in addition to wishing the students a happy long weekend, we were also able to announce the winners of the P2 PVA competition.
Enjoy this week's newsletter.
PVA competition
This week we've organised our big P2 PVA competition, with content students have recorded and photographed on their Cultural Studies trips. The PVA competition consists of six individual competitions: photo, video, article, documentary, yearbook and best of all. The winner of the best of all receives a GoPro camera, while the other winners each receive DKK 500.
The students have put a lot of energy into editing photos, videos, documentaries, yearbooks and, not least, writing great articles about their travel experiences. It has been great to see so many dedicated participants in this year's PVA competition, and we hope that even more students will want to participate next time.
The winner of the best 3 photos
In the photo competition 54 participated, but the winner was Solvei Kjølby - Morocco
The winner of the best photo
The winner of the best photo was Isabella Kim Nielsen - Namibia
Video winner
In the video competition, 18 participated, but the winner was Lucas Poulsen - Costa Rica
Article winner
In the article competition, 21 participated, but the winner was Sebastian Krog - China
The winner of the documentary
The documentary competition had 2 entries, but the winner was Rosa Reenberg - Namibia
Yearbook winner
In the yearbook competition, 10 participated, but the winner was Lea Krasnik - Panama
The winner of the best of all
The best of all was Maximilian Thræn - Nepal high trek
Maximilian had so much energy that he entered the photo, video and yearbook competitions.
Family & Culture Day
Last weekend we organised the big Culture and Family Day after our Cultural Studies trips. On this day, students had to present and share their experiences and perspectives from the trips with their parents. This way, the parents got a better insight into the special moments that the students had experienced.
Mobile-free week
It can be hard to find a teenager without a mobile phone these days. That's why this week we've collected all the students' mobile phones so they can focus their attention more on each other and the community. The mobile phone can be a constant distraction and it's tempting to check it every time you get a notification or get bored. That's why we've decided to reset our mobile phone usage this week. Earlier this year, we did the same and students gave positive feedback.
Shrovetide
Shrovetide is my name, and I want buns... Even if you're no longer a child, it's still important to have fun, and Shrovetide is no exception. So, of course, we had a cat's cradle party, where we found Ranum's cat kings and queens.
Valentine's Day
Love has been in the air this week, so some of the students have chosen to spread a little extra love around the school. They have put up beautiful hearts with quotes, hoping to bring an extra smile to everyone's face.
Second Hand Shop
The students from the project class have started a Second Hand Shop as part of their project management work. In the project, they focus on designing and generating ideas for different projects that they then have to realise. The idea behind the Second Hand Shop is to sell forgotten clothes from the former student class 22/23, and the proceeds from the sales will be donated to our friendship school in Nepal.
Sloe Jim concert
On Tuesday we also had the pleasure of the band Sloe Jim, who wanted to play some of their best hits for the students. The band consists of Sloe Jim, Cracker Jack, Seamus O'Leary and Ray D'Ator. Behind Sloe Jim is our very own administrative manager Carl Bennison, who formed the band with his friends in England. If you want to watch the concert, you can find it below.
Headmaster's column
Dear reader,
Thank you so much to all the families and grandparents and others who participated in the Culture and Family Day last Sunday. It is my impression that there was a good flow throughout the day with presentations from the Cultural Subject Journeys, lunch and a lecture on meta-cognitive psychology for the parents. The students were proud to be able to tell and show pictures and films from their great journeys and experiences. Some teams created a food culture experience, while others took the broad outlines of their travels and other teams created exhibitions.
The lecture by psychologist Sofie Mundbjerg gave rise to a number of good questions regarding the handling of young people with e.g. anxiety and insecurity, e.g. racing thoughts and overthinking. Sofie Mundbjerg presented a picture where you imagine your thoughts going through a sieve, which gave a good understanding that if you learn to queue your thoughts, time when problems need to be thought through, when anxiety and uncertainty need to be dealt with and with whom, the young person will also have more space to let their thoughts be and thus gather strength. It's a difficult and lengthy exercise, but the experience from group sessions on topics such as exam anxiety is extremely positive. We have been offering exam training for more than 15 years and also have some of the techniques that Sofie Mundbjerg presented in the programme.
Students have been without their mobile phones this week. It is quite inconvenient that the students do not have their mobile phones for various appointments with the driving school, hunting licence login, communication between teacher and students, as well as between friends. But it's still a learning experience to be able to make appointments, be timely about Efterskolebussen tickets, etc. We sense that the students also find that it allows for better conversations and more presence, especially in the rooms and in class. Next time we practice mobile-free communities, we are considering changing the mobile-free times to teaching time, so that students have their mobile phones for profile subjects and in their free time.
This weekend, many students are home for a long weekend to re-energise themselves for the next stage of Profile subject period 3, which also started this week.
Have a great weekend,
Olav Storm.
It happens
24.-25.02.24 Friends Weekend
01.03.24 3. Student party
05.03.24 School photo
English 
Danish