Field Trip

...Lundsvagen School

Getting to know our surroundings is part of the fun when you move to a new part of the world.

Thanks to a Family Day organized by the company, we discovered the Lundsvagen Naturskole, just a few kilometers outside Stavanger. It’s a large private boat marina but also a school that specializes in the sea, boats and fish. The kids had a lot of fun fishing, playing mini-golf, giant chess game and even cooking their own lapper.

Fishing

Playing

Cooking

Sailing off after a good day

Background and History

Lundsvågen naturskole originates from a local project started at Austbø Secondary School in 1989. The school needed a boathouse for canoes near the sea, and the deputy headmaster, Tor Sigurd Nielsen, brought in pupils with special needs to take part in building the house. In this way children who often drop out when doing theoretical subjects, were given practical work they could manage.
Soon teachers doing natural science at Austbø discovered the possibilities of using the sea and shore for practical purposes in their own instruction. This created a new necessity for buildings in the area like classrooms, toilets, piers, and of course aquariums. Being in this entreprenuer phase Tor Sigurd gradually moved from the classroom and into a building site by the sea were pupils with special needs were given a more practical education. And the activities soon developed into what was later called Austbø Maritime Centre (AMC).
After some time maritime excursions were combined with the education of children with special needs, and these two activities soon became the main pillars of the centre. By using pupils with special needs as assistants during the excursion these children were given meaningful tasks and social intercourse with children of their own age.