Acquiring, refurbishing and running a successful outdoor activity centre is no easy feat. In this feature, we talk to ALG’s Group CEO, Nigel Miller, about his original vision for Cuffley Active Learning Centre, and how that evolved to the creation of a unique new brand, Active Learning Centres.
“When we started interacting with Cuffley we used to operate there with The Bushcraft Company, at the Hatfield estate. So we already had a relationship with the estate who owned Cuffley – and therefore with Hertfordshire County Council. Four to five years before the council were reaching the end of their lease they invited us to have a look around. At this stage, we were a private company, not part of Cognita Schools as we are today, and bushcraft was the sole focus. I wasn’t interested because we’d seen a niche within the outdoor education market for bushcraft and I was totally focusing on doing this: previously we would sell against centres like Cuffley because bushcraft operated in slightly more remote environments with less fixed activities.
Nonetheless, another visit to Cuffley took place and what attracted me was the expansive woodlands at the site; its potential became clearer to us. By this time, The Bushcraft Company had joined Cognita to support their character education provision. While Bushcraft normally operates in a slightly different environment, I knew that our management and instructor teams had the know-how and knowledge to take their skills to a site like Cuffley – with its climbing frames, climbing walls and high ropes etc. – and run a complimentary operation there.
Bushcraft is always focused on the natural environment. The remoteness of going on a bushcraft camp is one of the great experiences. Bushcraft is very, very unique in the way it operates. It’s got a certain structure and I’m a great believer in the business of getting people really focused so you get the highest quality experience for the customer. With Cuffley being a woodland environment, I wanted another set of experiences for our customers which were slightly different and slightly unique, compared to what is out there in the market. I knew that we could achieve the same high standards of experience even if it meant operating Cuffley as a separate business.”
“With a small element of hard accommodation and buildings, Cuffley was extremely rundown, and so part of me was a little bit head and a little bit heart in terms of where you go, but my feeling was that we could really bring this centre back to life and make it grow. With the site located just outside the M25 it meant there was a large number of schools based in London and the southeast: the catchment area was huge for a high proportion of schools within the UK.
Being part of Cognita meant that the capital existed to fund the extensive work that was required to bring the site up to standard. There was also the recognition that for a schools group to be able to operate a broad character education programme it needed more than bushcraft; schools need a whole range of activities for students to undertake and this would help to fulfil that requirement.
I love being part of a schools’ group. What is so beneficial is being around the educators – we can road test ideas and they will challenge us. At times, you may hear what you don’t want to hear, but it’s good, and ultimately leads to an improved experience and more consistent standards across everything that we do.”
“It’s been a blueprint for the growth. The building blocks were in place and, as we’ve gone along, we’ve actually done well. We’ve got Cuffley running very successfully. We knew there were other centres we could look at. Certainly Covid has brought a lot of stress to our industry, and it has created an opportunity where assets are now available where they weren’t previously. Sealyham and The Towers, our latest two Active Learning Centres, both ceased trading during Covid. Continued underinvestment over many years meant they were seeking a different option; both needed running at a more commercial level.
Owning three centres has led to us creating a new Active Learning Centres brand for ALG, with Pat Milston leading as Managing Director. Pat’s been in the outdoor learning sector now for over 25 years, originally at the top end of this market, namely overseas expeditions. Pat’s unique in his skillset in that he started off being a teacher and has run literally hundreds of school trips and led many expeditions. So certainly as we were building Active Learning Group he was one of the people that I reached out to bring in. Initially to help on designing and delivering the character education programme for schools, and latterly on launching, embedding and establishing Active Learning Centres as a new business within the Active Learning Group.”
“Fundamentally, when we created Cuffley the goal was always to create an outdoor activity centre experience with a difference, one that operates a higher level within the market. The woodlands space means that when a school goes in, they won’t encounter any other schools – schools camping will have their own private camp; if they choose one of our pod villages they are single school pod villages with their own private facilities. The dining experience is a lot more personal as well. Rather than simply serving a standard diet of activities and food, we’re very much able to tailor to each school’s requirements and create a more bespoke product to meet their specific needs.
Last year we partnered with the Skills Builder framework to deliver an essential skills programme that has rigour and can be assessed and tracked by schools. We were delighted to be awarded Impact Level 4 by Skills Builder – the highest level – based on our training and programmes. The Cuffley experience – and indeed that of all our Active Learning Centres – is founded on building essential skills, character and promoting wellbeing. Whether that is delivered as a day or residential trip, via a single focus leadership course or as a bespoke integration or team-building day, our priority is ensuring that we are working with the teachers and developing the students in fun, memorable ways that will support them back in the classroom.
Cuffley is a smaller site than many of our competitors, so what it enables us to do is get a lot of schools coming back multiple times during the year which helps us to build up a relationship with them, understand their specific needs and give that higher level of customer experience.”
“What I think we’ve been successful in doing is building something out of nothing. From having one centre – Cuffley – stemming originally from our bushcraft activities, we’ve suddenly now spun that out into a separate new brand of Active Learning Centres involving Cuffley, Sealyham and The Towers. It’s exciting to see this part of the company grow and keep outdoor education accessible to young people in meaningful ways. It’s also incredibly rewarding to be able to retain three outdoor centres in educational use at a time when many centres are closing. We feel very privileged to deliver diverse outdoor opportunities to young people and support their growth outside of the classroom.”
