Case Study
Call on professional help
Travelling to a foreign country is not too difficult when you live in Great Britain. So many countries are close both in travelling time and are not too expensive. Still, to organise a load of school children is not an easy task, neither is raising the funds for them, but many schools achieve this feat and the children are better off for the experience.
Robert Bond, physical education teacher at Hagley Middle School, West Midlands, took 40 Year 8 pupils and five staff on a trip to Spain with the help of Acorn Adventure.
'We arrived in Calallevado on May 25 and returned on June 2,' said Robert Bond. 'It was basically an outdoor adventure which gives children the chance to participate in outdoor daily activities. They would spend from 10am to 4.30pm on the beach participating in snorkelling, windsurfing, sailing and canoeing and they were always under instruction from the Acorn staff.
'The children were basically split into groups with two instructors per group who would give children safety talks and explain the purpose of the activity. We wanted to get the children into water as quickly as possible so they would get used to it. The bulk of the instruction took place when the children were out in the water. We constantly rotated activities and we also had two excursion days. On one day we went to another beach, which was next door to enjoy scuba diving, water skiing, and banana boating. Children had to pay for those options. The other day out the children went to town to buy presents and then they went to a water world theme park.
'I think that the children got away from the school environment to do activities they normally wouldn't do at school. They see another side of each other and this breaks down barriers. They also see teachers in a different light. It presents an opportunity for a child not particularly bright in the classroom to excel in different activities.
'The benefit of foreign country is the weather conditions. The UK weather can be awful and everybody feels good when the sun is on their back and they are near the water. I would recommend other schools to go to foreign countries. The gain to children is that for most of them it is the first time they get to go abroad and on holiday without their parents. They will always remember it later in life and it helps form new friendships outside the classroom.'
