I have known John Sullivan for 5 years and have worked alongside him on 4 whole Year Group residential trips. I have taken care of the overall organisation for each trip and John has created and led the educational content of each trip.
For the trips, John led a team of adults called Elite Survival who delivered Survival Programmes to our students in both Year 10 and Year 11. Elite Survival are an effective team and their knowledge and engagement has enabled students to develop their abilities in thinking, communicating and taking risks.
John led the Survival Programme for our Year 10 students on the island of Ameland and the Advanced Survival Programme for International School of The Hague (ISH) Year 11 students in the countryside near Bergen op Zoom. By way of introduction to our Year 10 students, John visits ISH a few months before and speaks to them in an assembly. The title of his talk is ‘Feed the Rat’ and he aims to inspire the students to fulfil their inner ambitions and desires. John tells his own story of how he dreamed of being a Royal Marine and leading expeditions to countries such as Borneo and Papua New Guinea. He also surprised our students when he told them that he became a successful contestant in a local ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ competition and moved to the music like John Travolta!
Having worked with John for a number of years and witnessed his inspirational leadership and encouragement of young people I wholeheartedly recommend that any educational organisation should use his talents to create opportunities for students to experience learning beyond the classroom.
