STUDENT teachers were thrown in at the deep end in east Cleveland this week.

Fourteen graduates, who began the one-year Redcar and Cleveland graduate teacher programme in September, got a break from the classroom at the Park House Outdoor Centre, Ingleby Cross, near Osmotherley.

The seven men and seven women, based in primary schools throughout the borough, were given advice about how to plan out-of-school activities. The two-day residential visit involved outward-bound-type activities, including raft building, abseiling, rock climbing, orienteering and problem-solving.

The course was organised by the council's recruitment officer, Linda Bulmer, and Dormanstown Primary School's deputy headteacher, Carl Faulkner.