Case study - Macclesfield College

Situation

We were contacted by Macclesfield College of Further Education to design and run 2 sessions for 22 Public Service students. They needed to undertake 2 different types of expedition to fulfil their course requirements. The college wanted us to provide one of these by taking the groups on mini-expeditions by mountain bike. This would include handing over some responsibility to the students whilst being "ghost-led" by the BikeRight! instructors.

Our solution

We designed a 3 hour training session which would not only teach core mountain bike skills but also involve the students taking turns leading a leg of the ride and taking on the role as one of the 2 group leaders or navigators.

The students were put into groups of 3 and told which leg they would lead and navigate. All students were given a map and decided between themselves who would be the leader or navigator on each leg. The first leg went well apart from a wrong turn which was quickly identified. The further legs went very smoothly with a staged injury in a hedgerow for the leaders of leg 3 to deal with…luckily he survived!

The final descent back to Linnet Clough saw some excited but relieved faces as we rode back to base. The session delivered a constant group activity of bike skills, navigation and group management that the students and staff really enjoyed.

Benefits

The students learnt the importance of map reading and group management within an outdoor activity - and they had a great day out.

Related projects

• Hitchen Scouts skills session

• Macclesfield College education enrichment

• Stockport College education enrichment