5 reasons to try… Kingswood’s outdoor adventure education

Empower your students with life-changing skills on an OAE residential…

30 Second Briefing

Kingswood’s 11 UK outdoor activity centres welcome school students of all ages and abilities, allowing them to participate in skill-building, memory-making adventures in beautiful natural environments under the supervision of experienced coaches.

1. Backed by research

The learning objectives threaded throughout Kingswood’s programmes are designed to significantly improve resilience, build confidence, and crucially, improve wellbeing.

In the winter of 2023, an in-depth, mixed-methods research project was undertaken to measure and evaluate the development of psychological resilience, wellbeing and 21st century skills by diverse groups at 10 Kingswood centres attending ‘Live It’ – a five-day residential programme specifically intended for young people negatively impacted by the pandemic.

Staggeringly, 94% of the young people said they felt more self-confident because of their Kingswood trip – find out more about the research by scanning the QR code below.

“The learning objectives threaded throughout Kingswood’s programmes are designed to significantly improve resilience, build confidence, and crucially, improve wellbeing.”

2. Improvements now

Post-pandemic, young people’s confidence and resilience levels are at all-time lows, compounded by the image pressures exerted by social media, and a sense of having to live up to unrealistic standards.

We can, however, bring about positive changes in their personal growth and wellbeing almost immediately, through outdoor learning.

Among the 600 young people taking part in Kingswood’s research, 70% felt more confident in their future academic and career prospects following their outdoor adventure experience.

3. Lasting effects

Kingswood’s research further found that when participants were evaluated on the same resilience and wellbeing measures a month later, they were still benefiting from their experiences.

The research data speaks to just how sustained and long-lasting the impact can be, with resilience levels up by 24% and wellbeing by 17%.

An overwhelming proportion of these young people perceived their trip as something that had helped them develop their capacity to cope with uncertainty, increase their confidence in meeting individuals from different backgrounds, and take a more positive view of education and their future job prospects – thus creating healthier, much more resilient youngsters.

Scan here to download Kingswood’s latest research:

4. 21st century skills

Communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking are all attributes widely recognised as being essential in the modern workplace – as well as prerequisites for generating solutions to the critical problems future generations can expect to face.

Kingswood’s experiential learning programmes for secondary students home in on these essential skills, presenting young people with problem-solving tasks and employing the outdoor environment as a vehicle for personal growth and development.

5. Activate change

The powerful experiences that Kingswood offers provide students with opportunities to try something new and exercise their freedom of choice.

Young people leave a Kingswood experience with the capacity to test their newly acquired problem-solving skills at home, or indeed in the classroom. Led by experienced coaches, in a safe and controlled environment, they are able to develop profoundly important life skills, with transformational impacts.

Kingswood’s findings show how teachable behaviours, pedagogies and practices can make young people more adaptable and engaged in learning vocational skills.

These intense, authentic, residential-based experiences enable participants to connect with nature and take ownership of their learning.

For more information, call 0800 655 6564, email sales@kingswood.co.uk or visit kingswood.co.uk.