A trainee crew aboard the Spirit of Bermuda is set to return to shore after a five-day adventure at sea.

The Dellwood Middle School students will be welcomed home by parents and friends at Albuoy’s Point having participated in the Bermuda Sloop Foundation’s youth development programme.

Robin Hamill, the chief executive of the foundation, said: “The highlight of our week is welcoming trainee crew back to shore at the end of a residential voyage on Spirit utilising their new skills and getting their feedback about what they’ve accomplished.

“Sailing on the Spirit is a wonderful, empowering experience for students — a real rite of passage.

“Our programmes take our young people out of their comfort zone, providing opportunities to develop social and emotional learning skills like teamwork, perseverance and problem-solving.

“These voyages lead to a new awareness, sensitivity and understanding of self and others.

“Our main priority has always been to enable participation based on need. There is no tuition charge to all public M3 middle school students and extensive needs-based bursaries for follow-up voyages.”

In the 2023-24 youth development programme, which began in September, nine public, private and home schools will participate in 20 voyages.

The experiential learning programmes for all Bermuda public and private middle schools feature an alternative form of learning for students designed to help improve classroom learning.

It also features curriculum alignment with the Cambridge Curriculum and Steam education model to reinforce learning and academic success in the classroom, while exploring the cultural significance of the Spirit, which replicates an historic vessel of cultural importance to Bermuda.