CWA Students Sail Through RNLI Coastal Proficiency Course
Over 12 students completed the unique six-week course, covering navigation, water safety, rigging, launching lifeboats, tying knots and crew roles, including visits from Sandi Starfish, the police, British Divers and HM Coastguard. As part of their course, students were also taught how to sail with the Royal Yacht Association at Heacham.
The CWA PPS department have chosen the RNLI as their charity of the year and each student is raising £21.21 for the RNLI to add to the £335 already raised on a charity walk.
The RNLI have offered the course completely free of charge and hope to roll the course out three times a year to CWA students from all subject areas.
PPS students who participated in the course include; Rowan Martin, Piotr Wisniewski, Connor Naylor, Finley Wabe, Ricardo Simpson, Adam Thompson, Scott Brown, Zak Collins-Iddi, Sophie Crutchley and Harry Russell.
PPS student Ricardo Simpson won the CWA Shining Star award for 100% attendance and participation.
Tracey Hall, CWA Workplace and Careers Coordinator said:
“The Coastal Proficiency course is only the start of a great collaboration between CWA and the RNLI. It has given our learners some practical experience of the various different roles in a working lifeboat station and crucial skills and knowledge on how to stay safe at the coast.
We raised £335 from the walk led by PPS lecturer John Felmingham last year and each learner who took part in the course will be raising £20.21 and donating via our JustGiving page.”
Jo Justum, Deputy Launch Authority for the RNLI said:
“It is particularly important that we get across the water safety message to young people and encourage them to think about the consequences of each decision, while building their teamworking skills. The students have been impeccably well behaved and a real pleasure to teach.”
The RNLI have also delivered a workshop on campus surrounding leadership, looking at how they work together with other public services in an emergency using recreations of real-life scenarios.
Jim Rice, RNLI Regional Media Manager said:
“The 12 students also joined more than 100 of their fellow learners at the college as participants in the RNLI's Young Adults Programme, a curriculum-focused initiative to help students develop their skills in understanding risk, making decisions, taking responsibility, teamwork, leadership and communication. A core feature of the Programme is an interactive workshop that immerses students in a search and rescue scenario to give them a real-world experience of making decisions under pressure and within a team. The nationwide Programme has involved thousands of students in colleges throughout the country since it was launched five years ago.”
Kate Craven, who runs the Hunstanton RNLI’s education programme, said:
‘We took the objectives of the students, moulded the course to it and have taken their feedback to mould the next course, it’s been a fantastic partnership.’
Additional Notes to the Editor:
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For more information, please contact:
Grace Jones
Marketing & PR Coordinator
email: grace.jones@cwa.ac.uk tel: 01553 815 293 mob: 07458 074 749
Grace Jones
College of West Anglia
+44 1553 815293
grace.jones@cwa.ac.uk
