Call of the Wild Development Trust
The Trust was formed with the purpose of delivering resilience programmes free of charge principally to Primary school children in the community who are about to transition to Secondary school. It is designed to develop confident young people who are able to cope with difficult situations now and in their future lives, by building their mental toughness and improving their well-being.
Our innovative programme is developed to increase children’s resilience through a series of daily team tasks, delivered bilingually over 5 days. We discuss the importance of changing negative behaviour patterns and having a positive mental attitude. On one of the days we include an outdoor activity, such as climbing or gorge walking, which allows them to step out of their comfort zone and utilise skills gathered through the week.
The programme can be suitable for both year 6 and year 10 pupils.
Objectives
The programme aims are as follows:
- Increased personal and inter-personal confidence
- Increased social skills
- Increased ability to work effectively with others
- Increased self-awareness
- Increased resilience in the face of challenges
- Introduce the concept of reflective learning
Improved Performance
Recent research carried out in schools, colleges and universities in the UK and Europe shows that there is a close link between Mental Toughness and the following critical parameters:
- Performance – in exams and tests
- Wellbeing – the ability to deal with the pressures and challenges of everyday life
- Positive behaviours
- The higher the resilience the more the individual displays positive “can do” behaviours
- Aspirations – the higher the level of resilience the individual displays the greater the level of aspirations of the individual. This is particularly relevant to areas of economic and social deprivation
We use a psychometric test to measure mental toughness and the data gathered helps us to assess the areas of support each child requires. By repeating this test, we can also measure the distance travelled.
Outdoor Development
The programme includes an outdoor activity such as gorge walking
“Self-Belief” describes to what extent you believe you have the ability to deal with challenges and the inner strength to stand your ground when needed. Confidence in Abilities is a measure of self-esteem, identifying the extent to which you feel worthwhile and in need of external validation. Interpersonal Confidence measures the extent to which we are prepared to assert ourselves and our preparedness to deal with challenge or ridicule
Why Resilience is Useful for Transition
It helps young people deal better with:
- New settings – secondary school
- New programmes & courses – GCSE studies, coursework and exams
- New teachers/peers, etc.
- New experiences and opportunities
Duration and Format of the Programme
The programme runs for 5 days based at school using the surrounding outdoor space, including an adventure activity day off-site in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park. We can arrange transportation of the children to and from the activity site.
Teacher Feedback
Feedback has been requested from the teachers at some of the schools involved. The overwhelming reaction from each teacher was that the experience of the pupils has been a very positive one.
“I would like to take this opportunity to fully support this project. The ethos of reflection, evaluation and improvement that the project promotes reinforces school, county and national priorities. It was great to see these principles transferred to the everyday activities of pupils and PSE tasks (not only reading/ writing activities). It was also a great opportunity for me to assess the pupils’ social skills – some behaved as expected while others totally exceeded my expectations (always a joy to see the academically weaker/ quieter pupils shine through). We have started using similar activities with the junior’s on a weekly basis and look forward to rolling this out to the rest of the school.”
Kate Windsor-Brown
Headteacher
YGG Blaendulais“The reasoning behind the programme and its aims were very clear to see and will definitely benefit pupils, given more time. The activities were excellent – they challenged the pupils so much so that pupils felt they were ‘impossible’ however, pupils had a massive sense of achievement once they were completed. It was great to see such determination in the pupils and the encouragement that they gave one another.”
Chris Horrell
Head of Year 6
Cwmnedd Primary School
“As regards the project – it was excellent – as it gave different children opportunities to respond in ways that the class teacher did not expect. It also highlighted certain group issues – regarding the ability to work with others – take criticism and problem solving.
What were most interesting were the answers to the questionnaire that the children filled in. As a school we do believe that increasing self –esteem and giving children opportunities outside the classroom does have a positive effect. After reading the results it’s obvious that we have a long way to go. The ability to control their own futures was particularly stark and it would be great to do further work on mentoring and opening up opportunities to broaden their horizons – in the big world but also inside their own minds!!
We were delighted to take part in this project and would welcome further input – as this is a crucial area for children in the valley to develop.
Thanks”Gwilym Lewis Jones
Headteacher
YGG Y Wern