schools & education

Getting Young People Outdoors

Young People and the Outdoors

Olly is passionate about ensuring young people gain their own appreciation of the outdoors.  Having worked in outdoor centres for over 10 years, Olly has worked with young people of all ages and has extensive experience working with primary and secondary school children and also with young people with additional needs.

Having knowledge of the education sector, Olly knows that budgets are tight but that headteachers and youth leaders are always wanting to offer the very best for the children in their school or group.  Olly can create bespoke packages for your group that ensure quality but at an affordable price.

All paperwork including risk assessments are completed for you, reducing your workload and ensuring any package of activities runs smoothly and easily.

What we can offer

We can offer a range of opportunities for your school or youth group, for children and young people of all ages and groups of all sizes, including:

  • Indoor and outdoor climbing teaching using a local climbing wall and crags
  • Caving in local caves with opportunities for progression across year groups
  • Hill walking in the local environment and further afield and also up our 3 Peaks.
  • Gorge scrambling, combining climbing, water and walking
  • Orienteering within the school grounds and beyond
  • Geocaching, enabling children to combine technology with the outdoors
  • Participation in the NNAS – National Navigation Award Scheme
  • Outdoor Adventurous Residentials in a location to suit you, with a programme to suit your needs
  • An interactive presentation about ‘Extreme Environments’ to support topic learning

All activities could be arranged for whole classes but we can also work with specific groups or individuals on focussed skills e.g. Pupil Premium children to develop resilience and self-belief, a group of children with challenging behaviour to develop growth mindset, an individual child to develop their experience of outdoor learning.  We can also offer an INSET day for your staff with a difference – outside, in the outdoor environment, enjoying the outdoors!

Educational Research

The Education Endowment Foundation states:

“Overall, studies of adventure learning interventions consistently show positive benefits on academic learning. On average, pupils who participate in adventure learning interventions make approximately four additional months’ progress. There is also evidence of an impact on non-cognitive outcomes such as self-confidence.”

PE and Sport Premium Funding

Activities that we organise could be funded using the PE and Sport Premium funding, meeting all 5 Key Performance Indicators but particularly:

Key indicator 1: The engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity – Chief Medical Officer guidelines recommend that primary school children undertake at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day in school

Key indicator 3: Increased confidence, knowledge and skills of all staff in teaching PE and sport

Key indicator 4: Broader experience of a range of sports and activities offered to all pupils

Testimonials

Quote from a Primary School who have recently enjoyed a climbing experience with Year 5 children

“Following on from an indoor climbing and bouldering session at Ingleton Climbing Wall and some scrambling on rock at their Year 5 residential, the children couldn’t wait to put on helmets and harnesses again and go climbing on real rock!  Using Twistleton scar crag meant we didn’t have to travel very far at all and children got a lot of time actually climbing.  This enabled them to really develop their skills, confidence and self-belief – all in one day!”

“Watching children lead from the front, displaying teamwork, communication and enthusiasm, whilst being outdoors in our local environment enabled children to complete their John Muir Award, with a fantastic mountain walk up Ingleborough.”

Quote from a local primary school following a walk up Ingleborough as part of the John Muir Award

Download Our Education Pack

Download our Education Pack for Schools and Youth Groups, providing you with more information.