The children at Ilsham C of E Academy, which is part of the Learning Academy Partnership, were delighted to welcome Brendon Prince to their school assembly.
Last year, Brendon Prince broke the official World Record to circumnavigate mainland Britain by stand-up paddle board (SUP). He set off from Torquay on 27th April 2021 and returned 141 days later. By being the first to ever complete this challenge, Brendon also completed the World Record for longest ever journey by SUP.
His expedition was for the sole purpose of raising awareness of water safety and drowning prevention.
During his visit, Brendon treated the whole school to an assembly where he taught them about cold water shock, and the invaluable lesson of what to do in the event of falling into water.
Each class then got an opportunity to ask Brendon questions regarding his record-breaking circumnavigation of Britain. Questions ranged from ‘What made you do it?’ to ‘How did you survive?’.
Brendon then spent two hours with Year 4, training them to be Water Safety Ambassadors. This involves each child being trained to lead small group or whole school assemblies to educate their peers on different aspects of water safety, including ripe tides, tides, the role of the Coastguard and how to contact them, the meaning of different beach flags and the rescue of themselves and others. Once the children have completed their teaching, they will be fully fledged Water Safety Ambassadors.
Jacob, 9 years old, said: “I loved doing the role playing to test out our knowledge of what we should do in an emergency, and I can’t wait to start teaching all my friends about how to stay safe.”
Miss Blake, the class Teacher, said: “The children are so thrilled to have the incredibly important role of educating the rest of the school on water safety and drowning prevention. It will build each child’s confidence in and around the water and is a wonderful legacy to continue.”
