Along with my classmates, I spent a week on the Endeavour programme at Dockyard. We did lots of theory and practical lessons during the week, all related to sailing.

During our classroom theory lessons we actually built a small boat using clay and our instructors showed us how to fit marbles into the boat to show how adding crew members affects displacement and how more weight in a boat affects balance and speed.

We also constructed an anemometer by designing it first on an iPad then using a paper plate to cut out different “blades” which we clipped onto a pencil before we spun the blades to show different wind speeds.

We put our Hobie Cat overboard and we were divided into teams by our instructors.

We learnt to turn the tiller one way to make the Hobie go the other way.

It was confusing at first but it was fun!

Our instructors showed us how to steer the boat upwind then turn it round and come back again.

One day the instructors tied a trash bag to the mast and as the air filled the bag, the Hobie started moving.

It showed us that the wind is the most important part of sailing a boat!

We also learnt all about teamwork during the week we were there.

Everyone got a chance to steer the Hobie and we had to learn to work with each other to keep the Hobie moving and keep it upright.

We even enjoyed using our math skills when we were measuring the different areas of our sails.

It made our math lessons lots of fun!

We spent an afternoon at Glass Beach near Dockyard doing an Environment Awareness Project.

We collected 535 pieces of trash which has washed up on the beach and filled five trash bags.

The week was lots of fun for us and we learnt a lot about math, science and our environment as well.

I would like to do it again some time.

“We are very pleased that the students enjoyed our programme” said Hallie Payne, the Endeavour Programme Manager. “Today’s students need to ‘learn by doing’ and we give them real life examples of how to use math, science, art and technology.

“We make the learning process fun and children learn more — and enjoy learning more — when they are tactually engaged.”