Columba 1400 was a great experience for our pupils and teaching staff at Clydeview. The course included some meetings with a couple of workers from Skye, they were our main leaders for our journey before Skye. For one of our meetings, we went out on a values walk at Finlaystone and we worked on getting to know each other better and conversing with our values stones (that we had made in a previous session) about what we wanted to achieve on our journey through the Academy.

Our journey up to Skye was fun but tiring. The journey overall took us 8 hours on the road with several stops and a bus change. Once we arrived, which was about 17:30, we were greeted with open arms by the workers from Skye. They made us a lovely roast for our first night as a celebration of our arrival.

Over the course of the week, we participated in many activities such as search & rescue and going for walks where we talked about doing the right thing in difficult situations. One of our favourite group activities together outside of sessions was going to the Beach where we played non-stop rounders.

Here are some student Comments about their experiences:

“My Experience at Columba was very memorable, from the activities we did down to the food we ate it was all good. One of my favourite parts of the experience was the stretcher activity, we had to climb down a hill. All in all, it was an amazing experience.”
Matthew L

“My Experience in Skye was incredible; I strengthened my relationships with my peers and shared some amazing experiences with them. We went from scaling the edge of a cliff together to enjoying every meal together. I can’t wait to get started on planning our Christmas event together!”
Chloe M

Here are some teacher comments on how their look on teaching has been changed:

“My week in Skye with the Columba 1400 group has been one of the highlights of my teaching career so far! It was a fantastic opportunity to build positive relationships with colleagues and learners, and I learned a lot about myself too.
Whilst in Skye, I was able to see just how capable our young people are to be leaders and use their initiative and creativity. Since returning from Skye, I have been very conscious of this, and added more creative tasks to my lessons, along with activities that allow learners to show their leadership skills too.
I have also been inspired by all the learning and activities we did outside on the beautiful Isle of Skye and have taken more advantage of the outdoor space at the school for outdoor learning (whenever the West of Scotland weather allows!).”
Mrs Scott

“Going to Columba was a great experience. In the wonderful surroundings I felt that we had time to truly reflect on what it is to be a teacher. Along with my colleagues, we had a day away from students- talking about our past, present and future aspirations for teaching. Teaching is a vocation; we get to shape young minds. Skye and Columba 1400 helped me and my colleagues refocus and remember the immense responsibility and gift of purpose that we had been given. I will always remember the week very fondly.”
Mr McLaughlan