Robinwood Activity Centre – Dobroyd Castle
Photos of Robinwood Activity Centre – Dobroyd Castle
What will students see and do?
Overlooking the Todmorden moors in Lancashire, Dobroyd Castle offers fantastic views and wonderful architecture as a setting for an active school trip. Its 17 acres of grounds provide many opportunities for students to tackle new challenges while having fun with their classmates.
The main castle is a Grade-II Listed building thanks to its historic significance as a home, Home Office training facility and Buddhist centre. The two-storey structure has four turrets, bay windows and a four-storey tower.
The programme put on at the Robinwood Activity Centre offers challenging indoor and outdoor learning adventures designed for Key Stage 2 students. All activities take place on-site, and they include the following:
– Archery
– Canoeing
– Caving
– Challenge course
– Climbing wall
– Crate challenge
– Dungeon
– Nightline
– Piranha pool
– Quest challenge
– Raft building
– Trapeze
– Zip wire
Students spend their three days on-site moving between the 15 activities, meaning they’ll be busy during their entire stay at the castle. They are up at 7am, in activities from 9am to 9pm, and off to bed with lights out at 10pm. Each evening wraps up with hot chocolate and a review of the day with the course leader.
Activities on the grounds take place on the shallow lake or in the air on the 80-metre zip wire. The converted sports hall offers indoor activity areas such as a climbing wall, trapeze platforms and archery ranges.
Themed problem-solving areas capture the imagination as students work through puzzles together.
How does the trip link to the curriculum?
A trip to Dobroyd Castle provides many chances to reinforce classroom lessons and make links with the national curriculum. For example, this might involve talking about engineering while raft building, or maths during archery.
You could even break down the stories created for the problem-solving sessions for drama and English lessons.
However, Robinwood focuses more on developing personal skills, particularly social awareness, problem-solving and teamwork.
The centre’s staff work closely with teachers to identify specific personal and social skills to emphasise, like resilience, responsibility and listening. As students participate in various activities, the instructors and group leaders tailor their praise and discussions to target that objective.
Students have many ways to build confidence as well, from learning to take care of themselves and their belongings, to tackling new physical challenges.
Subjects covered
Teaching resources provided
Robinwood provides teacher resources in its leader’s manual, which also covers additional information needed, such as the code of conduct and safety information. One section of the manual details learning objectives for your activity programme.
The manual arrives after a provisional booking is made. Teachers are welcome to schedule an inspection visit as well. You will have a school-liaison contact assigned as part of the booking process to discuss key priorities or special requirements, and they will be able to help you schedule your trip or get you a copy of the manual in advance.
Once on-site, Robinwood schedules and staffs your course to allow you to get involved as much as you like. Staff run activity sessions from 9am to 9pm each day, and teachers may participate or stand back and observe.
School groups are provided with a course leader, who handles your entire group and group leaders for each activity group. There are additional instructors for certain activity sessions and staff for bedtime and wake-up. Night-duty staff are on hand to patrol halls and respond to student needs.
Minimum and maximum group size
Dobroyd Castle requires a minimum of 20 students per visit and can accommodate groups of up to 285 children.
The number of students you can bring is based on how many activity groups you book. Each activity group can have between ten and 13 students.
Groups may be smaller if necessary, but the centre still requires payment for a minimum of ten. Robinwood recommends bringing two year groups or pairing up with another school if you have trouble meeting the normal minimum of 20 children.
Details of risk assessment
Robinwood supplies detailed risk assessments for Dobroyd Castle, covering activity sessions and other areas. The assessments are updated on a regular basis and are provided in the leader’s manual.
Centre staff can support you in completing any safety-related documentation your school or local authority requires.
Don't miss our downloadable A-Z guide on completing a risk assessment
Facilities On-Site
Visiting students stay either in the main castle building or the three accommodation blocks next door. They share dormitory-style rooms, while teachers get en-suite rooms nearby.
In addition, there are teachers’ lounge areas off the entrance hall for use in the evenings while the Robinwood staff get the children to bed.
Additional bedrooms for adults can be booked if you need more than one per activity group. There is a separate charge for the extra rooms during residentials.
Opening Times
Typically, school groups arrive around 11am on day one and leave around 2.30pm on the afternoon of day three.
Pricing
Courses at Robinwood are booked and paid for based on activity groups with between ten and 13 children. Your preliminary booking will be for the number of activity groups rather than the number of children. This fixes the minimum charge and the maximum number of children you can bring.
During weekday term times, a Wednesday-to-Friday course runs at under £180 per child. Schools wishing to bring students after term has ended can do so, but the pricing for the same course runs up to £265 per child at that time.
Robinwood recommends your group include at least one adult for each activity group booked. Additional adults can be accommodated free of charge, up to a maximum of two per activity group. Only one adult bedroom is allocated per activity group, however.
Travel arrangements
Dobroyd Castle sits on Pexwood Road, just off the A681 Bacup Road and south-west of Todmorden. Pexwood Road is suitable for cars and small vehicles only (not coaches or other large vehicles).
Todmorden Station is within walking distance of the castle, making it an option worth considering. Robinwood staff can meet you at the station to take your group to the castle and escort you back to the station at the end of your stay. Luggage transport can also be arranged.
Address
Pexwood Road, Todmorden, Lancs
OL14 7JJ
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