Annual First Aid Course

Screams, stampedes and lots of blood – and no-one hurt, thankfully. These were the sights and sounds of the annual First Aid Course which took place from Wednesday 29th until Friday 31st January, led by the second-year First Aid team and monitored by teacher David Robertson, Red Cross instructor and supervisor. All first-year students and many staff members attended the tolv timer førstehjelp course, a combination of basic First Aid and workshop modules in more advanced First Aid. In groups of ten to fourteen the students and teachers rotated through the classrooms and learned essentials from how to treat a scald to the right application of a bandage. The rotations ended in an examined test and a practical assessment where participants actively treated ‘casualties’ in scenarios, and performed bandaging and rescue exercises. Upon successful completion of this course participants are awarded with a Red Cross diploma.

Among the course participants were 9 visitors currently living at Bergum Mottak, a centre for asylum seekers with which we have a long-standing affiliation. These visitors, who came from Eritrea, Iran, Sri Lanka and Congo, greatly enjoyed the stimulating and engaging sessions with the students, the opportunity to learn something new and practical, and the chance to have a refreshing break from their normal routines.

Marcin Jerzewski (Poland), a member of the Red Cross Nordic First Aid Team described his experience as follows,

“I have really appreciated the opportunity to become a part of the team of First Aid instructors. During the course the word ‘boredom’ definitely disappeared from my lexicon, and the variety of skills that I was learning and exercising were tremendous. These three days were a great lesson of creativity, leadership and mutual responsibility for the instructors as well as for all first-year participants: it has been a remarkably intense, yet truly UWC experience.”

David Robertson and Rektor Richard Lamont expressed their thanks to the second-year students who worked as instructors and examiners on the course – with David commenting that it was ‘… possibly the best-led First Aid course we’ve had at RCN.’ High praise indeed!

Sophie Schwechheimer (RCN 12-14)

2014-02-25T09:33:56+01:00February 3rd, 2014|

Dyslexia Course

On 30th January the College hosted teachers and other education professionals from around the County as they attended a full day of presentations and discussions about recognising Dyslexia in the classroom and the uses of technology software and hardware for helping identified students. Presentations were given by Åsne Midtbø Aas and Lillian Dale – two very experienced professionals.

Staff from the College also attended and were pleased with the way the day had gone.

2014-02-03T16:25:32+01:00January 30th, 2014|

The Final Four

The new year brought us four new RCN community members: Nimra (Pakistan), Gautham (India) and Festina (Kosovo). The last arrival, in late January, was Desiree (Congo). They were supposed to join us at the start of  the fall term, but visa issues prevented them from reaching Norway before the Winter Break, so they were invited to begin a foundation term in January. This will give them a firm grounding in the College practices and people before they begin their first year officially in August, 2014.

They have faced special challenges as they have been catapulted into a completely foreign, but friendly and supportive environment, arriving at a time when friendships and routines were well-established, the winter darkness was at its peak. Here are a few of their first impressions and experiences.

Desiree. Just arrived - and her first snow!

Desiree. Just arrived – and her first snow!

Desiree has studied quite a bit of English, but is getting used to actively using the language in daily life for the first time. She hopes that gaining confidence this term will make her future IB studies easier. It will! Shortly after she reached Flekke, she touched snow for the first time, and she has very much enjoyed her first experiences in the Haugland swimming pool, on the gammaldans floor, the badminton court and in TSK.

Gautham was “totally homesick” at first, but his compatriots reassured him that time would pass quickly, advised him on subjects, and fed him home-cooked dishes, which lifted his spirits. He has thrown himself into new experiences, joining a trip to the mottak to visit asylum seekers and demonstrating considerable talent in gammaldans. He was also awestruck by the snowfall which greeted him on the journey from Bergen to Flekke.

Festina comes from a city environment, and like Nimra, was unaccustomed to walking alone, particularly at night. She is adjusting to the quiet, missing the noise and hubbub of her home, but enjoying the natural beauty of her new surroundings. “If I ever feel homesick, I go for a walk and feel better.” When asked about things she has experienced for the first time since coming here, her immediate response was “instant noodles”! She was also surprised to be invited into teachers’ homes and is enjoying working in science labs for the first time, learning through practical experiments.

Nimra is poetic in her recounting of first impressions, commenting on the moonlight reflections on the fjord under the stars. She and Festina meet every evening to share experiences and talk about the many new experiences they are having – and once even to sing, looking out over the water, in English and then in their own languages. Although she feels somewhat overwhelmed by the newness of everything, she explains that at the same time she feels deeply connected to her own culture, appreciating the strong and constant foundation that she has in her family.

With the arrival of these four new students, our family is complete!

2018-10-16T09:33:52+01:00January 29th, 2014|

New Visitors’ Centre

Diggers

The diggers have started work!

We are delighted to report that the building work for our new Centre for Visitors, UWC Connect, has started. The digger has already made substantial changes to the terrain on the south side of Iceland and Sweden Houses. Over the past week, the tranquility of the campus here at RCN has been occasionally interrupted with controlled explosions as the workmen have levelled out the rock formations in the building area. Some of our teachers involved in climbing are delighted to see how the work done has created a new arena for bouldering, as new rocky challenges have been uncovered.

The Centre will be used for Leirskule visitors and Red Cross Summer Camps and gives us completely new possibilities to welcome other visitors as part of our task to use education as a uniting force. We hope that the first building will be ready to receive visitors in Spring 2015. We are also looking to expand our summer programme with camps for Roma students from Hungary, UWC short courses, and differently-abled students sponsored by the Norwegian Lions’ Club.

Our patron, Her Majesty Queen Sonja will be visiting the College at the beginning of April and will be laying the foundation stone.

2018-10-16T09:33:52+01:00January 18th, 2014|
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