Aiming to bring outdoor life to school

The children concentrate intently and shout "pull". Guns fire, but most of the small orange discs the children are aiming as they whizz into the air come to earth frustratingly intact.

This is a rather unusual after-school activity being held at the remotely controlled clay traps on the Coniston Hall Hotel's shooting ground near Skipton. One pupil fares better than the rest. His parents run a farm and he already has some experience of using guns under the supervision of his father.

Marcus Peel, the the head teacher of Malsis School, explains: "We just felt that being in the country, and having quite a number of children who came from country homes, and some from farms, it was one of the natural things we'd do, go and train them to shoot. I'm a great believer that the earlier you start these things in terms of skills and safety and responsibility the better."

Many of his older pupils make this short trip once a week to the shooting ground to try their hands, enthused by a head teacher who is passionate about all kinds of outdoor activities. Water sports, survival training – you name it they do it.

If Marcus Peel had his way, the next Ray Mears would come from his school. "We have a mountain bike track, we have an air-rifle range, we have a climbing tree in the grounds. The children do bush-craft, Ray Mears is one of my heroes, there's a big cardboard cut out of him somewhere in the school."

Actually, as his pupils correct him, it's a giant poster, but never mind. "I'm keen for them all to have a go at being outside, and there's nothing most of them like more than being allowed to go outside and start fires, and being allowed to use knives under control, and cook pigeon or squirrel or whatever else they can find."

The shooting is dictated more by size, rather than age. The shooting ground provides 410-bore shotguns which are adjusted according to the size of the child using them.

Shooting coach Luke Worsley says: "There's a lot of manufacturers now, because youngsters are coming into the sport, who have built guns designed for youngsters. Grips are smaller, trigger blades are smaller, the stocks are a lot shorter.

"Kids grow very quickly, so that gun we've been using today will probably only be good for a year before they move on to the next size." The club, based at the shooting ground, has a number of different guns to fit in with the youngsters.

Amongst the pupils shooting today is one experienced old hand, if you can call a twelve-year-old that, a novice and eleven-year-old Poppy Anderson from Settle who is firing a shotgun for the first time in her life. "It was a little bit scary because I wasn't sure how strong it would be," says Poppy. "It was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. It was easier than I thought, but it's still really hard." Poppy managed to hit a couple of the clays.

More successful is twelve year old Rory Smith, from Gargrave. He's been shooting since he was nine years old with his father bringing him clay pigeon shooting. He's all in favour of it being offered at school. "I think it's good, because you can see each other shoot and all the different ways that each of you shoot."

Thirteen-year-old Ben Sharp is the novice. He's been clay pigeon shooting once before, and has used an air rifle at home. Firing a shotgun is different. "It's a lot harder. It's got more kick than an air rifle." Rory says that the trick is not to think too much. "Sometimes you think 'where should I shoot it, because it will start hovering, and then you'll miss it. The trick is to just not hesitate when you're thinking... just go for it."

Rory says he thinks it's easier to hit clays than rabbits or pigeons.

Eventually he'd like to shoot in the Olympics. Not 2012, but maybe he might be a prospect for Rio in 2016. For him it is certainly one of the highlights of the school week. "I think that you get a feeling of excitement because you know you're getting your eye in more every time, getting a little bit better working up to where you want to be."

For Ben it's the practical side of things. "I find it quite interesting learning how to look after your gun, and keeping it safe."

The school helps with some of the costs, but parents will still be contributing between 15 and 20 for each session. Marcus Peel believes that both shooting clay pigeons – and the bush-craft sessions – teach children vital lessons.

"I think the importance of it is responsibility in the fact that you're handling something that is dangerous. While teaching children to use knives, I say 'imagine you're handling a gun'. It's a skill and an enjoyment. It's a pleasure being able to hit a target and all children like a challenge, and some may progress to become skilled enough to shoot game."

As a former Metropolitan police officer, Mr Peel believes that the approach which he's adopted could have benefits in all schools.

"There's a lot of talk about knives and the use of knives. In my experience most young people will respond to being given a responsibility, they'll listen very carefully, often much more carefully than adults do. Teaching things like how to carry the weapon, where you store it, and so on.

"Once they've learned it at a young age, like many other skills, they never forget."