Ski Aosta 2017 – “more than just a ski trip”

A fantastic Aosta ski visit this Easter with a range of school age learners and adults that gave our residential visit a community engagement and learning edge.

Our group skiing in Pila, Aosta – great weather with the Matterhorn in the distance- an amazing environment to develop & learn in.

A huge thank you to all the helpers and volunteers involved and of course couldn’t happen without the years of dedication to this visit by Bruce Fraser formerly of Lifelong Learning who has now retired.

The value of these educational visits should not be underestimated. Visible Learning was evident throughout , not just with the physical skills involved in skiing but I witnessed the amazing resilience, confidence, communication, support, positive behaviours and of course an overall sense of fun that our young Midlothian people exhibited.

This Relational Schools study outlines the benefits of ski trips – click on image for more on the research

All this going on while pupils are immersed in the amazing culture, language and history in the stunning mountain environment of the Aosta Valley. Real opportunities for “character development”.

Personal qualities are among the SAL’s (significant aspects of learning ) visible during alpine skiing – click on image for more curriculum links

It was great also to see during the visit some of our ex Midlothian skiers working in Italy, achieving positive destinations!  The Outdoor learning team are delighted we could enable this visit and excited about the future and looking forward to building our next ski visit, to build on the skills of our young people.

Again thanks to all our Midlothian pupils and learners who made this such a brilliant residential and a visible success. We can’t wait to work with you all again.

Watch this space for further details on our next Ski & Achieve residential visit.