You are standing on the edge of a platform, and it feels like you can see the whole world below you as you brace yourself to take a leap of faith.

You jump and feel the safety net of your harness around you as you, quite literally, fly through the sky… just one activity has the opportunity to change a student’s life.

Travelling provides a host of opportunities for students, both educationally and pastorally.

Whether you’re planning a subject based school trip or a rewards trip at the end of the school year, adding an element of adventure is proven to help students develop key life skills such as:

• Risk assessment
• Team work and leadership
• Positive mentality
• Self-esteem and self-confidence

Whether your group is river tubing through the Alcantara River in Sicily, zip lining across the cloud forest in Costa Rica, kayaking through epic scenery in Norway or literally snorkelling between two continents in Iceland, we have a host of activities that are guaranteed to positively impact your students and leave them with memories, skills and a positive attitude to last a lifetime.

Our trips are designed so that key pastoral education opportunities are prominent across our destination range. These opportunities include:

• Resilience
• Self-Organisation
• Time Management
• Listening and Communication
• Mindfulness
• Reflections
• Problem Solving
• Team work and Leadership
• Independence

Some of the pastoral benefits of your trip are:

Resilience

The climb up Mount Pico in the Azores can be challenging, but the reward is well worth it. This day-long hike to Portugal’s highest peak will test students’ resilience, but the view of the neighbouring islands from the top will make any challenging moments completely worth it.

Self-organisation

As well as our activities, some of our accommodation is even chosen to help with pastoral development. Hardangertun Holiday Park in Norway is a shining example of this. Students will receive a shopping basket of food to make their own breakfast and packed lunch. This is a fun and unique way of promoting self-organisation and independence in students.

Time management

Whichever topic you choose to focus on, fieldwork in Mallorca is a great way to enhance your students’ time-management skills. From Water Security to Sustainable Cities, there are plenty of exciting topics that students’ can explore. During these sessions, students will have a chance to go off and investigate the topic in groups, meaning they will have to listen carefully to their expert guide, and use self-organisation and independence to ensure they manage their time well. In order to complete their task/project they will have to manage their time and evaluate the relative importance of each section of the task in order to have time to complete everything with enough detail.

Listening and communication

Cooking local cuisine is not only a fun and exciting way to get to know the local culture, but also a great way to practise listening and communication skills. The Italian Cooking School provides an epic chance for students to learn from experts how to use fresh local ingredients to make classic dishes as your students’ work as a group to test everything they have learnt by preparing a delicious 3 course meal.

Mindfulness

As students glide through Skadar Lake, Montenegro, they will be able to be completely present in that moment. They will be able to focus on their own thoughts and emotions as they take in their unbelievable surroundings. We believe that being immersed in nature is one of the best ways to practise mindfulness and it doesn’t get more calming than Skadar Lake.

Reflections

It is hard to find an activity more rewarding than volunteering at Pacuare Leatherback Turtle Reserve in Costa Rica. Students will partake in vital conservation work, including turtle censuses, helping turtle’s nest and helping turtles hatch. Opportunities like this give students the chance to not only reflect on the world around them, but self-reflect on how they are, and can continue to, help the world they live in.

Problem Solving

We know that so much of the problem solving skills that students practise on a school trip happen outside of their planned activities, such as sharing a room with fellow students and managing their spending money. That said, we still have a host of activities that can enhance these skills. A great example is Reykjavik Escape. Situated in the heart of Iceland’s stunning capital, this escape room allows students to work as a team as they solve riddles, puzzles and mysteries.

Team work and Leadership

No other destination provides as many opportunities to practise teamwork and leadership as in Norway. The epic backdrop and resilient nature of the locals only add to the reasons to visit. Whilst staying in Hardangertun, students will have a chance to enjoy plenty of activities such as archery, canoeing, orienteering, team building, rock climbing and zip lining. All of these activities have been carefully designed to enhance key skills including team work and leadership.

Independence

The Hveragerdi Town Train is not only a fantastic way for students’ to discover the “real” Iceland and gain a sense of place, but also a chance of them to gain some independence. Students will be able to independently explore the trail, but teachers can have peace of mind knowing they are in a friendly, safe and compact town. There is plenty to learn along the way, and students will really have a chance to take ownership of their own education.