Outdoor Education

Breckenbrough has had a long and valuable tradition in Outdoor Education. This has been developed and evolved into an integrated and varied programme of Outdoor Education in its widest sense and has become an important element of our formal curriculum. As well as allowing the National Curriculum to be delivered, the Outdoor Education programme allow an emphasis upon personal and team development, interpersonal skills and addressing areas such as poor self – esteem and self belief. Ofsted praised the Outdoor Education programme for reflecting and putting the school ethos into practise.

The activities that are offered are fully differentiated, allowing each pupil to achieve success at their own level. We promote personal goal and target setting, and try to create a supportive environment within which the boys can take responsibility for themselves and others in order to achieve as a team. Full participation is encouraged, but we often adopt a ‘challenge by choice’ approach, with each individual being able to extend their abilities in their own timescales.

The environments we use for many of our activities are enveloped with stunning scenery, within one of our three local national parks. We try to not only preserve, but also enhance the sites we use by a minimal impact approach which many of the boys also adopt with the realisation of the fragility of the environments used.

The Outdoor Education programme is utilised for educational visits of a cross-curricular nature in Geography, Science, P.E, Art and English, but the emphasis remains the core of PSD and skills development.

The programme has a progression throughout the academic years, Years 7 and 8 concentrate on Hillwalking, map work and navigational skill, orienteering, caving, horse riding, camp craft and educational visits.

The year 9 and 10 programme is extended to include more technical elements such as rock climbing, canoeing and kayaking, team building and problem solving and skiing. The boys are encouraged to develop their skills and are awarded with both in-house and NGB certificates of achievement. It is intended that these awards should cross-relate to the NPRA scheme.

The programme includes several residential trips; In years 7, 8 and 9 Youth Hostelling in North Wales, in years 10 and 11 opportunities to ski in Italy, ride coast to coast, and in addition we run several activity specific multi-day camps for climbing, caving and canoeing.

We ensure that all activities are supervised by staff who hold the relevant NGB qualifications and experience to organise and run them. The emphasis at all times is on safety. Even though we do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Young Persons Act, our procedures are in line with those given for the licensing of activities.

Staff meet on a termly basis to review the terms activities and to plan for the following term. Issues discussed include those activities which have been a success, reviewing the appropriateness and merits of new activities, and Health and Safety issues including any near misses. The meetings are also used to discuss the personal development of staff and the implementation of training, whether in house or using outside agencies.