Children love outdoor learning centres, but many are being forced to close
The traditional residential trip to experience climbing, camping and canoeing may never return without government action, warn experts
Adventures: A residential trip is a treasured part of school
Credit: Craig Stennett
When my eldest son finished primary school last year, without any of the usual final year six rituals of leaving parties, last assemblies or signing of shirts, thanks to Covid, I asked him what he had enjoyed and would remember most about his years at primary school. “Easy,” he said. “Our residential trip to Marle Hall.”
It was exactly the same for me when I was at primary school and I, along with around 60,000 other school children from Warwickshire, also enjoyed a week of climbing, orienteering and sharing bunk beds with my best friends at the marvellous Marle Hall, which first opened as a Centre for Outdoor Learning, 50 years ago.