#SAVEOUTDOORED; OUR ADVENTURE
Posted on 16th December 2020 at 11:19
The #SaveOutdoorEd banner has been touring the country, and it stopped off at Plas Gwynant on Monday. In true Plas style, we took it to some of our spectacular venues. See the gallery below.
Residential learning centres such as ours have been closed since March 2020 and will not be able to offer overnight visits until April 2021 under current DfE guidelines.
The sector is at a critical point; millions of children have missed out on life-shaping opportunities, centres are closing permanently and thousands of people have lost their jobs. To raise awareness of the plight, a consortium of outdoor learning and adventure bodies sent a #SaveOutdoorEd banner around the UK and it visited our bit of North Wales on Monday. So, we did what we do...!
At the top of Eagle Rock
Eagle Rock
Matrix Slab
Elephant Rock, Llyn Gwynant
Snowdon looking majestic
Llyn Dinas
Our "making of" video
ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN
Many residential education centres cannot receive the financial support that is available to other businesses because they are allowed to offer day visits. That means that they are classed as "open". The rub, though, is that many centres are in remote or rural areas, and so school groups have been prevented from travelling by coach to visit. You can read more about the situation HERE.
UK Outdoors is leading the campaign to raise awareness, to represent the sector, and to lobby Government; our sector is one of a few that has been prevented from any meaningful economic activity. The sector is built on health & safety - our job is to manage and mitigate risk, and extraordinary steps have been taken to develop Covid-safe protocols.
The benefits of a residential experience, such as at any of our outdoor learning centres and at Ingestre Hall Residential Arts Centre, are widely researched and documented. You can see some evidence HERE.
"When planned and implemented well, learning outside the classroom contributed significantly to raising standards, and improving pupils' personal, social, and emotional development."
Ofsted, LOtC: how far should you go?
UK Outdoors Save Outdoor Education
Read more about the campaign at UK Outdoors.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
We'd love for you to help build momentum for the campaign. If you can spare a moment, the sector are asking people to sign a parliamentary petition, and / or to write to their MP. The petition and an automated template letter are here:
And finally, you can follow the UK Outdoors social media campaign at @saveoutdoored on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, interacting with posts and posting with #SaveOutdoorEd.
WIth best wishes and thanks, from all at Sandwell Residential Education Service
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