Well-being starts with one droplet of inspiration, creating a ripple of positivity!

Here at The Official Test Centre we are so lucky to witness the transformative powers of the sea on the young people that anchor at our centre. With our Well-Being Windsurfing sessions seeing confidence levels soar, anxiety melt away and youngsters sailing into the future with new hope. In this week's blog Headteacher of Conifers Primary School shines a light on the life changing sessions when his students come alive at our centre. Well-being starts with one droplet of inspiration and creates a ripple of positivity!

By Emma Maguire.

Well-Being windsurfing group from Conifers Primary School, Weymouth

Headteacher of Conifers Primary School, Mr Johnson said: "The opportunities that they have here they wouldn't get in their normal every day to day life and they are so different, they wouldn't dream of sailing or windsurfing.

"They may go down to the beach as an extra opportunity or go to a pleasure park, but coming down here and trying to experience something that they have to put their own effort into, they have to draw on their own levels of commitment and involvement.

"To see them actually do this and say I have got this, I have nailed this and I am ready to go. Their confidence levels absolutely soar! Just watching that in themselves is enough, they come alive when they are down here, to see that in young children, you don't see that very often now, there is so much going on in their lives particular in my school.

"To come down here and see them be children and actually enjoy being young, and enthused and excited, and exploring. When you are in reception you learn through play, as you go further up through the school you become divorced from that because you are sat down at a desk, with your pencil and your book and staring at the whiteboard and the teacher. Here pull up the sail, lean this way, lean that way, fall over in the water, they are all exploring, it is not like they are learning they are playing and enjoying themselves."

Sailing towards better well-being!

Does what they learn transfer into the classroom?

Mr Johnson said: "Particularly their confidence levels, yes a lot of these children keep themselves to themselves and they have quite tight friendship groups, one or two who are similar to them, you can see them walking around the school in the playground and their confidence levels are building enough so they will interact with other children and start engaging with them, because they have that confidence but I want to say more like bravery, it is quite a brave thing for them to do, pushing them outside their comfort zone, they are able to do it because down here they have succeeded in something new, when we joined with the other school the way they gelled particularly last season when we bought them down, it was phenomenal because they were all in the same boat, no pun intended, they were all in the same situation they are learning together and they are complete strangers but they are pulling together and talking together what they learn here it travels and transcends really easily back into school and hopefully into their daily lives as-well."

Therapeutic benefits of time on the water!

We discussed how some of these children wouldn't get an opportunity like this if it wasn't for Well-being windsurfing.

Mr Johnson said: "They wouldn't get anything like this, we are very keen to make sure we choose the right children to come here, to give them these opportunites and say look come down here and experience this because this is what you have on your doorstep. If they want to come back and children from my school have, they can do. It is a bus ride or a taxi ride."

Paddling towards better well-being!

How does it help children that have high anxiety?

Mr Johnson said: "Absolutely, when they windsurf they come into their own selves I don't want to get too spiritual about this but when you are on the water there is something about that calming influence, because it is just you, the sail and the board, they can think to themselves I can do this and it is very peaceful, I would use the term mindfulness."

Profound impact of vitamin sea!

I asked Mr Johnson how he feels as their headteacher that well-being windsurfing has had such a positive impact on these children?

Mr Johnson said: "It does make me immensely proud when I see these children, I have watched them grow up from reception when they are four year olds and they are holding their mum and dads hands and feeling nervy and as they get slightly more and more independent and when they come down here they achieve and they achieve really really quickly, the learning curve is incredibly steep but they seem to grasp it really quickly because they want to and just enjoying that zest for life it is amazing to watch."

We discussed how such a simple concept, a board, a sail, nature has such a huge impact.

Mr Johnson said: "Yes it is extraordinary, there is not a-lot of information that you need to learn to sail, but you do need the skill, and you do need the attitude and the commitment, and that is the kind of things I want to instil in my children. Windsurfing tests them becasue it is something they are not used to and by having a go at it, you can see how they thrive at it, because they rise to the challenge, because it is inspirational. When they leave their sessions here, they can't stop chatting all the way back to school, because they are so alive. I have taught outdoor education for years and as soon as this opportunity came up I knew the value of it, because I recognise the power and the value."

The funding and the generosity that allows these sessions to happen is so vital?

Mr Johnson said: "Absolutely, it is imperative, more than vital otherwise these children would not get the chance to do this, learning outside the classroom is one of our core values, so children have that opportunity, because so many children learn easier outside of the classroom, it is not like they are learning because they are exploring, learning through exploration and play and hands on challenge. It is an easy way for children to succeed, they can say do you know what I just sailed across the harbour and back, that is success, bang! As humans we all want self worth and feel like we are achieving something and we have value and worth and when they do this they have it very very quickly and on the way back after every single session they are just alive with enthusiasm because they have achieved it."

Feeling inspired? Why not book a windsurfing taster with us at The Official Test Centre and start your adventure with us on the water. Call 07817 717904.