Frants Bernstorff-Gyldensteen, Chair of the Council at UWC Red Cross Nordic, shared his thoughts on the Council Meeting that took place recently at the College. It was, as always fantastic to welcome our Governance, the Council provided invaluable input that led to important progress on topics such as mental health issues or the Campus development plan. Please read his thoughts about the meeting:

“It is always a pleasure to visit the beautiful campus of UWC Red Cross Nordic, especially in such sunny weather! It was invigorating to have the opportunity to connect with so many students and staff members throughout the weekend. I am grateful for the enthusiasm and dedication of the Council when addressing the important topics on our agenda. The program that was offered for us was both informative and thought-provoking, and I am excited to see the progress that we can make as a school community in the future. The council met Rektor Pelham Lindfield Roberts for the first time and received his report on the state of the college.

I would like to highlight the initiative of the students, who challenged us to endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-proliferation Programme. We share the same concerns about environmental sustainability and climate change as the students and each of us was inspired to consider endorsing the Programme as individuals. Whether the College should collectively endorse this Programme was left to the College Board to consider.

We discussed the new structure of the Council and Board, and we welcomed the new members to both the Board and Council; we also said goodbye to two Board Members who have served the College for decades and whose dedication has made a significant impact in UWC Red Cross Nordic. One of them is Sigridur Anna Thordardottir,  from Iceland, who has been in our Governance since 2007 and who we can thank for our very strong ties to both the Icelandic National Committee and the Icelandic stakeholders. The other was Ivar Lund-Mathiesen, from Norway, who has been involved UWC Red Cross Nordic since the start, and even before. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Sigridur and Ivar, who have dedicated their time, passion, and effort to supporting the College over these years.

Mental health issues is a challenge in schools around the world, also at UWC Red Cross Nordic. The council was invited to discuss the approach to this challenge taken by Rektor and the staff. This issue is being addressed by the Community Life Model that deals with support structures of the College in mental health issues. It is great to witness the significant progress made in the safety net the College provides for student support. The challenge remains one of to taking good care of our students and at the same time, inspire them to become independent adults.

After almost 30 years the College needs a Campus development plan. I am happy to report that NORCONSULT has started work on a harmonized development plan for the area of the Red Cross Rehabilitation Centre and the UWC Red Cross Nordic.

It will conclude in an updated plan for both entities that will be the basis for our shared development. The plans will allow the College to pursue its Strategy and allow the educational model to unfold in an appropriate setting.

In the afternoon the Council participated in workshops facilitated by members of the leadership team exploring the educational model and strategy of the College. The theme this year aimed the efforts to strengthen the Nordic characteristics of the educational and life experience enjoyed at UWC Red Cross Nordic.

Overall, this was a very productive and successful meeting, The council came away with a sense that the dark covid years are behind us, and there is plenty of reasons to believe in a bright future for the College. We are excited to continue our work supporting the efforts to ensure that our school remains excellent. Thank you to all members of the council for taking an interest and making the effort for the benefit of UWC Red Cross Nordic.Thank you to all members of the College community for looking after us and making sure that we look forward to returning in a years’ time. I can’t wait to see you all at the next meeting!”

The Extended Essay is an independent research project completed by all RCN students as part of the IB Diploma Programme. For many students, it is the most challenging assignment that they will encounter in their school career: the workload is estimated at 40 hours, there is a 4000-word limit and students have access to just 4 hours of guidance from a subject-specialist supervisor.

Saying this, the benefits of engaging in the Extended Essay process are enormous. Students’ planning, management, writing, argumentation, research, reflection and communication skills are strengthened. The Extended Essay mimics undergraduate-level research in the relevant subject area, which means (for example) that Literature students perform textual analysis, Language Acquisition students present their ideas in a foreign language, Individuals & Societies students explore contemporary and/or global issues from multiple well-defined perspectives and Science students carry out investigations. And the Extended Essay remains refreshingly low-stakes in the IB Diploma overall; the skill level is high, but the maximum points available are relatively low.

This week, Emma (Academic Programme Leader) launched the Extended Essay with all First Year students in her first Academic Skills session of the year. She discussed the importance of choosing the right discipline for the Extended Essay and shared her insights on how to experience a balanced IB Diploma overall. Students also had the opportunity to find out why we carry out end-of-year internal exams in the First Year, with Emma explaining the value of assessment in any learning process and how teachers will learn more about how to support individuals and classes.

The RCN community also enjoyed the EEvening, which is an hour in which Second Years are on hand to present their work and share their experiences of undertaking an Extended Essay while First Years consider a range of Extended Essay subjects and ask questions in an informal setting. We hope that students are able to make informed decisions and know that our teachers’ diverse expertise will enable us to find the best possible match between our students and their supervisors.