02 Oct Efterskolernes Day, a visit from Italien and the decision on this year’s Cultural Studies subject
We’ve been to the theatre, had a visit from Italien, taken part in Golf Skills lessons and received new course certificates in Reformer Pilates. As you can probably tell, things have been very busy again here in Ranum.
The biggest event of the week, however, was undoubtedly Efterskolernes Day, when we were given the chance to showcase all our subjects and the many opportunities we offer. You can also read about which cultural subjects have been finally approved and will define the entire winter term at efterskolen.
Happy reading!
Thank you for a lively Efterskolernes Day
Activities were in full swing throughout the school when we opened our doors last Sunday for the Efterskolernes Day. More than 300 families turned up and showed keen interest in our school, our day-to-day life and, not least, our pupils.
There was a lovely, lively atmosphere throughout the school, and we are so grateful that you got caught up in the excitement and joined in with the efterskole story at Ranum. Our pupils were ready and raring to show you round, tell you about their daily lives and share some of the many experiences that come with life at Ranum Efterskole College. It’s always something quite special to experience the school through the pupils’ eyes, and we’re proud of the way they welcomed all our guests.
Although Efterskolernes Day is over for this year, our doors are still open. If you weren’t able to pop in, you can always book a place on one of our upcoming guided tours by clicking the link below. This will give you the chance to explore the school, meet pupils and staff, and get a feel for what a year at Ranum has to offer.
The cultural subjects have now been approved
The cultural subjects selection process is now almost complete. The subjects have been chosen, and we are pleased to see that this year there is a wide range of preferences amongst the pupils.
Courses focusing on Mexico, Texas, Panama, Guadeloupe, Brazil, the US West Coast, Europe, Namibia, South Africa, Coral Restoration Zanzibar, Nepal Culture, Nepal High Trek, China, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and New Zealand.
Many of the subjects have reached the ideal number of pupils, which is why only a few subjects have been organised into two classes. In some subjects, pupils have, through their applications, secured a place in line with their first, second or third choice. In the coming weeks, we will be working to ensure that all preferences are accommodated as far as possible, so that as many students as possible have the opportunity to immerse themselves in a cultural subject they are truly passionate about.
Each subject offers fascinating cultural insights whilst also focusing on various UN Sustainable Development Goals. This gives pupils the opportunity to delve into different cultures, societies and global issues, and to gain an even deeper understanding of the world.
The coming week will be all about subject-specific field trips, but we’re already looking forward to getting our cultural studies lessons under way and continuing our journey out into the world – even here at school.
Visit from Italien
A warm welcome to our Italian guests!
Or in Danish: ”Welcome to our Italian guests”.
This week, we have been visited by Giovanna and Serena, who have been attending lessons, whole-school assemblies and observing the general day-to-day running of Ranum Efterskole College. They visited Ranum as part of an Erasmus+ programme to learn what a efterskole is and to discuss opportunities for future collaboration between our schools.
We met Giovanna last year during another Erasmus+ exchange in the Netherlands, and since then we’ve kept in touch with the aim of organising another exchange. So it was really lovely to be able to welcome Giovanna and Serena to Ranum and give them an insight into our daily lives and the efterskole experience. They were very impressed by our pupils, their maturity and their openness towards guests. They were both really lovely and welcoming, and the visit demonstrated once again just how enriching it is to meet others who work in education and to gain an insight into how schools operate in other countries.
We are currently in the process of finalising dates for this new Erasmus+ exchange with the Liceo Scientifico Statale ”Annibale Calini” in Brescia, an Italian secondary school specialising in, amongst other things, the natural sciences. We hope that this visit will be the first step towards a new international partnership, where both pupils and teachers will have the opportunity to learn from one another and experience a different school culture.
Thank you for visiting!
News: Reformer Pilates as an upgrade
Our yoga and Pilates classes have never had as many participants as this year, which is why we’ve decided to expand our programme and give our students the full experience by adding Reformer Pilates.
Reformer Pilates involves, amongst other things, a movable bench or carriage, on which each student can strengthen their muscles by performing repetitions of various exercises using their own body weight. This strengthens the whole body and can also help to improve both flexibility and balance. We’ve brought the Reformer equipment home, and everything has been unpacked in the loft at Kærhuset, where the classes take place. We were just missing the final and most important step – for our talented instructors to become certified Reformer instructors. Fortunately, they can now call themselves that, having attended a training course this week.
Congratulations on the new course!
We’re looking forward to trying out this new form of training and developing in new directions.
New challenges in Mandarin
Our teacher, Ning Xu, who has taught Mandarin, Asian Cooking, Chinese Culture and much more for many years, has gone on maternity leave and has returned to China to be with her family. We are therefore delighted to welcome Xinyue Zhou, who will now be taking charge of the Mandarin lessons.
We have a very diverse class in Mandarin this year, with pupils from Honduras, Thailand, Denmark and Australien, amongst other places. They’re all starting out as beginners, and that creates an atmosphere for laughter, learning and a sense of community, where everyone is open to helping and learning from one another.
We enjoy seeing how the pupils dare to throw themselves into learning new languages, which for most of them are very different from their own. Many also combine Mandarin with the ‘China’ cultural studies module, which gives them the opportunity to use and practise their language skills when they later travel the world.
That is precisely one of the things we love about language teaching at Ranum – that pupils have the confidence to try something new, challenge themselves and use the language in real-life situations.
A girls’ night out at the theatre in Aars
On Wednesday evening, we filled our minivan with a lovely group of girls who wanted to go to the theatre in Aars to see the play ”AMDI”. All five girls responded really well, and although they might not be part of the target audience who know a great deal about the whole story of Tvind and Mogens Amdi Petersen, they had no trouble following the plot anyway.
The performance was not, in fact, about Mogens Amdi Petersen as a person, but about the broader issues raised by him and the Tvind movement: the strength and downfall of community, the seductive and destructive aspects of power, and the longing for meaning and solidarity across generations.
A truly lovely evening, which once again shows how small wishes can come true within the wider community in Ranum.
Golf SKILLS: Training and education to become an established golfer
Very few people outside the world of golf probably know what it means to make a birdie, go out of bounds, hit out of a bunker or play a pitch shot – but the lads on the Golf Skills team have it all sorted!
Some of them have been playing golf for several years, whilst others are taking the plunge and are being taken under the wing of the more experienced players. Golf is hugely popular amongst our pupils, both girls and boys, and this year we offer golf as a specialised subject, an activity subject and a Skills module. Several times a week, pupils train at the golf course in Løgstør, which Ranum Efterskole College is proud to support. We are delighted with our partnership with the golf club in Løgstør. We contribute new players, make donations – including for new flags – and help to educate the next generation of golfers on how to conduct themselves on a golf course and in the natural environment. In return, the club gives us free rein to develop our young people and help make our mark on Ranum – as well as offering membership to all our players, so they can also use the courses outside of lessons.
On Friday morning, the lads were raring to go for a round of golf, and after a good warm-up, the Ranum Ryder Cup got underway. In this competition, the pupils play in pairs, taking turns to hit every other shot – and, of course, battling it out for victory right to the end.
It’s a great way to navigate the holes, whilst working together, playing to each other’s strengths and employing just the right tactics. And then, of course, there’s a bit of extra prestige at stake when competing for victory in the Ranum Ryder Cup.
Have a safe journey
So we’ve finally got to the part that many pupils have been looking forward to for the past few weeks – the subject-specific trips!
After two months of intensive study and a great deal of learning, the time has now come to go out into the world and put all the new skills the pupils have learnt into practice. Some pupils set off as early as Friday, whilst others will be setting off over the weekend.
Family and friends are very welcome to follow the individual expedition teams’ Facebook pages, where photos, videos and diary entries from the trips will be shared on an ongoing basis.
Links to the various Facebook pages and groups.
Have a really lovely trip, everyone!
Headmaster's column
This year, the grass started growing again in September after a very dry summer. Now it’s 23 degrees, and everything is lush and green. The pupils have also put down deeper roots and really got the efterskole community going. This really came to the fore when we held Efterskolernes Day, and the pupils showed visitors round our school. They received a great deal of praise from the more than 300 visiting families, and it’s absolutely lovely to receive happy messages from grateful parents, who might have feared a chaotic visit to a school that was far too big, but instead found a calm and smooth atmosphere, as well as countless happy pupils and staff. As well as the many visitors, we were also joined by around 200 former pupils – particularly from last year’s cohort. It’s truly heart-warming to receive hugs and smiles and to be reminded that Ranum has meant so much that even young people from Copenhagen, Esbjerg, Germany and the rest of the country are willing to make the long journey to see the school and each other.
This week, pupils have chosen Cultural Studies in the final round of voting. They have written a statement explaining their reasons for their first choice, and all but 9 out of 545 pupils have had their preference granted. It is now up to the pupils and their parents to confirm their choice. This process may involve a discussion of courage, maturity and dreams, as well as a tough decision on what the pupil will have to pay themselves if there is a co-payment for the Cultural Studies trip. It is a discussion from which all parties benefit, and which can lead to the pupil gaining greater independence and maturity – qualities that can form the basis for greater commitment and, hopefully in the long term, greater self-esteem. It is clear to see that the pupils are ”in the driving seat”, that there is something at stake, and the democratic decision-making process has never worked better than it has this year.
Next week, all pupils and most staff will be taking part in the first subject-specific trip, which is the culmination of the training and preparation they have undertaken in their chosen subjects since the start of the school year. I am in Croatia to ensure that eight pupils have the opportunity to experience being skippers, navigators and deckhands, as well as looking after one another on board one of the ten identical boats. This is something I’m really looking forward to, as it’s a huge pleasure to see the pupils working together and growing in their various roles. On board, I’m not the headteacher either, but simply Olav, who loves sailing and being part of a supportive community.
Next week, everyone will be on their autumn break and the office will be closed, but we will reply to the information email every day.
I wish all my colleagues and pupils a safe and pleasant journey – and I hope you all have a really lovely weekend.
Yours sincerely
Olav Storm
Principal
It happens:
Calendar
- Specialist Study Trips 03/10/26
- Autumn half-term 12 October 26
- Alumni Day for former pupils 24 October 26
- Performance weekend 31 October 26
- Lecture by Naser Khader, 12 November 26
- Christmas Fun Weekend 14 November 26
- TEBO 17 November 1926
- ‘Life of a Busker’ concert, 18 November 26
- Performance, week 24 November 26
- Family Day 28 November 26
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