The purchase of two new outdoor activity centres in Autumn 2021 has enabled rapid growth of our Active Learning Centres portfolio and the creation of a distinct trilogy of outdoor learning experiences for schools that spans woodland, coast and mountains. Sealyham (close to Pembrokeshire’s coast) and The Towers (in Snowdonia, North Wales) enables students to journey with us on a brand-new, age-appropriate and truly progressive character development programme.
Delivering activity programmes ranging from Forest School to bespoke outdoor learning programmes. With Cuffley being a woodland environment, the acquisition of Sealyham and The Towers means that we can now offer another set of adventurous and environmental experiences for schools which are slightly different and slightly unique in comparison to the rest of the market.
We know that schools are keen for more challenging and adventurous activities from character, skills development and wellbeing perspectives. These three sites allow us to offer this in a structured and progressive way. Specific environments allow us to tailor activities to the age group where it’s more relevant; stretching students as they get older and as they’re increasingly able to take on greater challenges.
Being able to give a school the opportunity to come and do a bushcraft camp with The Bushcraft Company, and then welcome those students back with Active Learning Centres from ages 8-18 provides a unique opportunity for students’ development. They progress through sites supported by a broader essential skills framework (we partner with Skills Builder), learning with a matrix of instructors who are trained in that framework and understand the developmental journey these young people are undertaking.
With ALG’s origins being in bushcraft provision it’s no surprise that the natural environment has always been critical to the Cuffley experience, which is built on developing essential skills training, character and promoting wellbeing in the outdoor space. Within ten minutes of coming off the M25 students are sat in 100 acres of beautiful woodland. You wouldn’t believe you are where you are. It’s imperative for us that we continue that experience across the newly created Sealyham and The Towers Active Learning Centres.
Our focus for Active Learning Centres is always around the environment, meaning students are not going back to the same location and they’re not going back to a similar type of centre. Each Active Learning experience is unique with menus and activities tailored to what is relative to those environments. At Cuffley, within the woods, we’re using the trees and the environment we’re in rather than bringing in an activity which is less relevant to that environment.
Naturally, the coastal environment is different to that of the woods, but it’s also slightly more challenging in some of the activities that we’ll do around kayaking and coasteering and climbing. Similarly with the mountains, students will be introduced to trekking and doing activities on their own which are more physically challenging.
The commonality across our Active Learning Centres is the Skills Builder framework and the pedagogical platform that these experiences are built upon, so that we can assess the young people coming through. We work with teachers to focus on different elements of key skill acquisition, but within a coherent framework so that we can communicate back to students’ teachers.
In delivering a whole age specific programme we can offer an environmental learning experience for students from Year 6 to Year 13, that will support young people into their education and future worlds of work.
