The Learning Away programme – a Paul Hamlyn Foundation special initiative – is discovering that high-quality residential experiences can provide powerful learning opportunities for young people.
We are gathering compelling evidence of the impact these experiences have on students, teachers and schools.
A final evaluation report will be published in June, but two interim reports highlight key findings in four areas: impact on relationships; students’ sense of community; their confidence; and achievement and engagement in learning.
Teachers and students speak of the strong sense of community developed on a residential stay and the sense of belonging this engenders. It is seen as an environment where engagement is greater, where success can be celebrated and where students are less judgmental and more collaborative. Significantly, this sense of community continues after their return to school.
However, while most schools use outdoor education centres, few plan residential stays at heritage venues. Is that because schools are unaware of the opportunities available? Or because not many heritage sites offer them? Whatever the reason, this must be a huge missed opportunity for the heritage sector and schools.
To demonstrate what can be done, four of the Learning Away schools have successfully piloted innovative heritage residential programmes in partnership with three sites.
For five days in 2013, 80 students aged 14-15 from Canterbury Academy took part in a residential stay at Hampton Court Palace. The objective was to enable disengaged students to learn in a supportive and inspirational environment, altering the way they interact with subjects by taking them out of their normal classroom for an extended period.
Drawing on the historic setting, their teachers planned GCSE lessons and activities that made full use of the palace buildings and grounds. For example, the students did PE in the palace’s tennis courts, studied English and drama in Base Court (a recreation of a Tudor wine fountain) and took science, maths and art lessons in the formal gardens. Students and staff camped in a secluded part of the gardens, using their own equipment.
One Year 10 student said: “When I was at Hampton Court there was just loads of stuff to inspire me. I probably did more hours of work in that one week than I did in the whole term.”
The school is now planning its 2015 residential at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham. Students will camp in the gardens, while also experiencing a one-night sleepover on HMS Cavalier.
The residential visit was a first for the Historic Royal Palaces education team, and provided a great opportunity for staff to engage young people with the heritage of the palace and its collections.
Last year, three Learning Away primary schools in Durham developed a heritage residential stay with the Beamish open-air museum, camping on-site for two days and one night. The museum devised a living history mystery: the pupils had to explore the death of a boy who fell down a mine, investigate the incident and interview actors playing various characters. During the evening, they discussed what they had discovered and how to move forward with the enquiry. Back at school, this was turned into stories.
The camp was a pilot from which the education officer will make a case for establishing a more permanent residential offer at Beamish. Schools used their own camping equipment to enable these kinds of low-cost, inclusive experiences. Curriculum outcomes involved not just history, but also literacy, science and geography.
Peter Carne is the chairman of the Group for Education in Museums and a project leader for the Learning Away programme
We are gathering compelling evidence of the impact these experiences have on students, teachers and schools.
A final evaluation report will be published in June, but two interim reports highlight key findings in four areas: impact on relationships; students’ sense of community; their confidence; and achievement and engagement in learning.
Teachers and students speak of the strong sense of community developed on a residential stay and the sense of belonging this engenders. It is seen as an environment where engagement is greater, where success can be celebrated and where students are less judgmental and more collaborative. Significantly, this sense of community continues after their return to school.
However, while most schools use outdoor education centres, few plan residential stays at heritage venues. Is that because schools are unaware of the opportunities available? Or because not many heritage sites offer them? Whatever the reason, this must be a huge missed opportunity for the heritage sector and schools.
To demonstrate what can be done, four of the Learning Away schools have successfully piloted innovative heritage residential programmes in partnership with three sites.
For five days in 2013, 80 students aged 14-15 from Canterbury Academy took part in a residential stay at Hampton Court Palace. The objective was to enable disengaged students to learn in a supportive and inspirational environment, altering the way they interact with subjects by taking them out of their normal classroom for an extended period.
Drawing on the historic setting, their teachers planned GCSE lessons and activities that made full use of the palace buildings and grounds. For example, the students did PE in the palace’s tennis courts, studied English and drama in Base Court (a recreation of a Tudor wine fountain) and took science, maths and art lessons in the formal gardens. Students and staff camped in a secluded part of the gardens, using their own equipment.
One Year 10 student said: “When I was at Hampton Court there was just loads of stuff to inspire me. I probably did more hours of work in that one week than I did in the whole term.”
The school is now planning its 2015 residential at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham. Students will camp in the gardens, while also experiencing a one-night sleepover on HMS Cavalier.
The residential visit was a first for the Historic Royal Palaces education team, and provided a great opportunity for staff to engage young people with the heritage of the palace and its collections.
Last year, three Learning Away primary schools in Durham developed a heritage residential stay with the Beamish open-air museum, camping on-site for two days and one night. The museum devised a living history mystery: the pupils had to explore the death of a boy who fell down a mine, investigate the incident and interview actors playing various characters. During the evening, they discussed what they had discovered and how to move forward with the enquiry. Back at school, this was turned into stories.
The camp was a pilot from which the education officer will make a case for establishing a more permanent residential offer at Beamish. Schools used their own camping equipment to enable these kinds of low-cost, inclusive experiences. Curriculum outcomes involved not just history, but also literacy, science and geography.
Peter Carne is the chairman of the Group for Education in Museums and a project leader for the Learning Away programme
