As a Geography specialist, I have always been keenly aware of the essential role of educational visits in enhancing and enriching the learning experience for students. Over my 18 years at Northampton High School GDST I have had the opportunity to lead residentials multiple times each year and see first hand the transformative impact that learning outside of the classroom can have on the development of transferable skills, independence and confidence as students learn to apply their knowledge and understanding in a real world context.
My perspective on the benefits of educational visits has only been enhanced by my recent work as the Educational Visits Coordinator at Northampton High School GDST, where it has genuinely been a privilege to oversee the rich range of extra and super curricular trips that range from a local visit for Nursery students to our local war memorial for Remembrance Day, to the Y5 Grafham water adventurous activities residential and the Sixth Form Physics trip to Airbus (developing the engineers of our future!). It is striking to me the rich range of experiences and opportunities available to our students through this varied programme of visits, each providing the means to develop confidence, independence and enhance learning in a real world context.
Over the penultimate week of November, I had the privilege of visiting Murray Edwards college Cambridge with Year 12, as part of our higher education programme, whilst the following day I attended the Y3/4 Burwell House residential in my capacity as Educational Visits Coordinator; it was the juxtaposition of these two trips, with the wide age range between the participants, and my reflections on the vast array of learning that I observed in such as short space of time, that inspired me to write this blog.
During the Year 12 visit on Wednesday 19 November to Murray Edwards College, one of the two remaining all girls colleges at Cambridge University, the students were given an introduction to the university, a guided tour of the college’s Women in Arts collection (the largest collection of its kind in Europe) and participated in a detailed Q&A on the Cambridge admissions process. It was inspiring for the students, who asked intelligent questions that advanced their understanding of how to succeed at elite university applications; from speaking to them afterwards it became clear that the trip had either confirmed their aspirations to apply for Cambridge or for others opened their minds to the opportunity, demonstrating the increased confidence students had developed.
My subsequent experience the following day, when visiting the Y3/4 students on their trip to the Burwell House education centre in Cambridgeshire, was equally revealing as to the benefits of educational visits for our younger students, particularly in terms of their creativity, confidence, teamwork and independence. Throughout the day it was a genuine privilege to take part in craft workshops, where the students actively learned how to make decorative key chains and bags painted using the ‘batik’ technique (from Indonesia, using dripped wax); the students greatly enjoyed their experience, learning new skills and having fun. But from talking to the students it became clear that the widest benefits were social, in terms of the confidence attending a residential gave them in being away from parents; these young students were self aware that this was an important step in preparing for their independent futures, such as going to university or starting a job abroad. It was also clear that they loved the opportunity to explore the Burwell estate, taking particular delight in showing me the magic fairy tree. Many of these students had been afraid to attend the residential, yet after a few short days they had grown in confidence and independence, thriving through overcoming the challenges of real world learning.
These are just a couple of examples from a rich programme of educational visits available at Northampton High School GDST; over the coming months we look forward to a food trip to Borough Market, a languages trip to the British Film Institute, numerous sports fixtures, theatre visits, museum visits, residentials and even a World Challenge visit to Borneo. Each and every one of these visits is invaluable for our students, growing their confidence as they develop real world skills, knowledge and experience and increasing their independence as they prepare for their future success.
By Mr James Earp
Director of Sixth Form
