On Tuesday 21st July 2015, 17 students and 2 members of staff attended our final Ethos Trip of the year to reward excellent attendance.

The group gathered excitedly at UKSA in Cowes before being shown to the 60ft yacht, “The Albatross”, on which they were to spend the day.
Once aboard, students and staff were given life jackets and safety straps and were shown how to use them correctly. After waiting a short time for the correct tidal conditions, they were off!

After an initially cautious approach, staff and students were soon moving confidently around the boat, in what can be described as almost perfect weather conditions – with a good breeze and beautiful sunshine. The friendly and knowledgeable crew were more than happy to answer any of our students’ questions and showed them the navigation room with its high tech equipment which told them the speed of the boat, the depth of the water below and the yacht’s position on the map.

Everyone spent a very enjoyable day out on the Solent seeing sights such as the Spinnaker Tower, Osborne House and Spitbank Fort, as well as some other very beautiful wooden yachts. The students said that this was a brilliant idea for a reward trip with Jack Gill stating: “its the best so far!”.

After lunch, the group headed back towards Cowes, spending time meandering around the coast as the wind speed crept up; Mrs Riches was lucky enough to steer The Albatross back towards Cowes Harbour, with Mrs Turner commenting; “We have had an absolutely fantastic day, the children have behaved brilliantly and the UKSA staff have been really welcoming. I feel privileged to have spent such a lovely day doing something I would never have done otherwise and I think the students feel the same!”