ACE
adventure
/ədˈvɛntʃə/
noun
noun: adventure; plural noun: adventures
1. an unusual and exciting or daring experience.
What we do
ACE; or the Adventure Centre for Education is the school’s outdoor education department.
Working alongside guidelines for learning outside the classroom and the Institute for Outdoor learning, the ACE team work with the students to encourage positive growth in their social, emotional and mental health wellbeing. The purpose of the work of ACE, is more than just fun and games (they are a by-product), ACE chooses activities and tasks that develop and challenge the young people at Bowden House School.
The ACE team have a wide range of qualifications and experiences, their differing coaching qualifications allows them to do a large range of activities and sports, both inside and outside the classroom.
Some of these include kayaking, canoeing, stand up paddleboarding, bushcraft, archery, orienteering, rock climbing, navigation, mountain and hill walking, windsurfing and sailing and mountain biking.
ACE seeks to:
- develop confidence,
- develop resilience
- develop environmental awareness
- create a passion for learning
- promote personal wellbeing
- enhance life skills
How do we do this?
The ACE department does this in two ways. One half of the team offer a range of students half day and full day sessions where the students are given the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities and environments they would not normally engage in.
The students have the option to attend sessions where they are given tasks and activities to develop different key areas of social and emotional health. All students get the opportunity to work with different peers in the school and their groups mix to allow them to socialise and work with other students they may not normally be working alongside.
The second arm of ACE is Adventure and Sport, here the students go out for a half day session in their class groups to complete a number of curriculum-based objectives whilst also addressing soft skills. The students work through a series of objectives from the AQA Unit Award Scheme and often receive a certificate at the end of a unit. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to develop confidence, experience new environments achieve valuable life skills and access cross curricular topics.
ACE have two additional elements which addresses the youngest KS3 and the oldest KS4 students.
The Year 7 and 8 cohort participate in the ACE Top 50, where the students aim to complete 50 tasks or activities before they reach the end of their journey to Year 8. This gives them an improved confidence in themselves and in attempting new things (please see the ‘50 New Things’ PDF at the bottom of this page).
The Year 11 cohort are given the opportunity to complete their GCSE in Physical Education and ACE offer them the opportunity to use climbing as one of their sports to be assessed in.
Alongside the daily sessions and trips the students also receive the opportunity to go on residential camps run by the ACE team. These opportunities are often in wonderful and beautiful areas of the country and have included; the New Forest, North and South Wales and even the Lake District.
Links to external websites:
