Extraordinary People - Adventure Learning Schools Working With Adventurer Leo Houlding

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Bright Tribe

Adventure Learning Schools (ALS), a charity that supports learning through adventure and curiosity, is working on a curriculum-based project with leading British climber and adventurer Leo Houlding. Leo is attempting to be the first to scale ‘The Wolfs Tooth’ in Eastern Antarctica. Leo launched his plans for his latest expedition in front of the media and six North West schools at the Chill Factore in Manchester earlier this month. Leo and his team are aiming to make the first ascent of the 2km, North East Ridge of the remote peak Ulvetanna, nicknamed ‘The Wolf’s Tooth’.

Leo has collaborated with ALS and the schools to develop a special curriculum for students, covering the essentials that keep the climbers alive on their expedition, ranging from logistics and planning to climate and nutrition.

The project will incorporate making core expedition materials available for schools to use in their planning such as kit list, logo design, presentations and two videos of Leo talking about his adventure.

The launch event allowed the students to get a first-hand experience of the challenges Leo will face during his expedition.

ALS has close links with Bright Tribe Trust, with Bright Tribe’s Director of Education, Professor David Hopkins, also Executive Director for the adventure charity. The two organisations share the same principles behind learning and aim to develop extraordinary people by inspiring students through heroes like Leo Houlding. An adventure learning curriculum will be an integral part of all Bright Tribe academies.

The students from the six schools will follow every inch of Leo’s expedition to Antarctica through a UK first ‘live’ learning expedition. The launch event was designed to be a learning expedition in itself with students taking part in outdoor activities including skiing, climbing, using port-a-ledge tents and sky diving, providing insights into all the expedition’s challenges.

Speaking about his plans, Leo Houlding said: “The ethos behind ALS is close to my heart and I have seen for myself the excitement children experience and the benefits of using wilderness expeditions to provide a unique approach to implementing the national curriculum. The extreme nature of our expedition combined with the wondrous landscape of Eastern Antarctica really captivates students.

“The expedition has so much rich learning involved with it, from the mathematics of food rationing and calorie intake to the science behind the new hydrophobic down technology in our insulated clothing.”

Professor David Hopkins, Director of Education for Bright Tribe Trust added: “Leo and his team have gone to extraordinary efforts to open up their Antarctica expedition to benefit the learning of students. The whole notion of ALS is to put adventure in learning and curiosity at the heart of the curriculum. ALS has an unrelenting focus on literacy and numeracy but also supports students to develop those learning skills for the future. It’s the same ethos that we’re looking forward to embedding in Bright Tribe’s academies.

In addition to sharing intimate details about the trip, Leo will attempt a UK first, to communicate live with schools during the expedition. Students are being given a unique and fantastic opportunity to apply their problem solving skills to this learning expedition. This is enabling them to become independent learners who use their curiosity to delve more deeply into a range of traditional academic subjects.