Teachers come OnBoard at Sea Cadets Royal Docks Boat Station

The session was held to remove any concerns the teachers may have had prior to the start of RYA OnBoard sessions for their young students. This follows a previous event with Tollgate Primary School as part of ongoing work with the Boleyn Trust to bring RYA OnBoard to inner city schools.

Boat Station Manager Freddie Lovejoy takes up the story:

Our aim as a Sea Cadet Boat Station is to give young people the best possible head start in life through nautical adventure and fun, so being an RYA Onboard Centre and engaging with school groups makes perfect sense.

One approach was to show local school groups the benefits of taking part in watersports. So we took teachers from The Boleyn Trust, a group of local primary schools, out for an evening of sailing and canoeing on Royal Victoria Dock. The team with RYA support got the teachers kitted up in buoyancy aids, briefed and afloat in crews in our RS Quests, where the instructors took them for a joy ride and taught them some basics of sailing. Some of these school teachers had never been on a boat before and made it clear they were not swimmers, so this was a large leap into the unknown for them and pushed their boundaries.

As a result they developed a greater confidence, determination and communication. Sure enough conversations after the initial realisation and enjoyment of the activities quickly turned to the benefits their classes would gain from this kind of activity.

It was a successful evening with smiles all-round the group. A highlight for me was seeing these teachers expand their horizons so quickly that by the end of the evening the sailing boats were having mini races, followed by the post activity buzz and chat they all had. They all had a nautical adventure and got to see into our watersports world with the Sea Cadets.

Find out more:

OnBoard is the RYA's children's sailing and windsurfing programme. It offers children the opportunity to try watersports through their local club or centre in a safe, fun and structured environment

The Sea Cadets Royal Docks Boat Station is an RYA OnBoard Centre and provides afloat training for Sea Cadets in and near London, Kent and Essex

The Boleyn Trust promotes the entitlement and life chances of pupils in disadvantaged communities. It is passionate about high expectations and outcomes for all its pupils. Cleves, Monega and New City Primary Schools are part of the Trust, which also has strong capacity to support other neighbourhood schools in challenging circumstances.