Teenager Ben* was reluctant to go on a three-night residential with his school in East Kilbride. He was on the cusp of disengagement from his lessons and the cost of attending was too much of a financial burden on his family. After much encouragement from his teachers, the school cajoled Ben into going and supported him with the costs.

The trip was a sports development residential, offering Ben a chance to take part in sports he loved but had not previously been able to study in depth. He flourished and became re-engaged with his studies. When he got back to school, he took part in after-school activities, and accepted a leadership role, returning on the residential the following year as a sports leader.

Tony McDaid, former headteacher at Ben’s school, says: “There is no doubt that residential activity played a pivotal role [in re-engaging Ben], and it came at just the right time for him.” Ben has now left school and is studying sports coaching at university.

Ben’s story is just one example from the compelling findings of the Learning Away action research programme (learningaway.org.uk), which spanned five years with 60 primary, secondary and special schools, developing and testing a wide range of inclusive and affordable residentials ranging from camping in the school grounds to staying in a palace.

Building resilience and relationships

The research produced overwhelming evidence about the numerous positive impacts a residential experience can have on pupils, improving their resilience, attainment, relationships and engagement with learning.

Another school, in Kent, used its residentials to enhance attainment in core subjects for those students identified as borderline C/D. This made a life-changing difference to Melissa*, who had very low confidence and persistently refused to go to school.

Following an outdoor residential in which core subjects such as maths were integrated into fun activities, Melissa left school with grade C and above in English, maths and science, going on to study construction at college.

Her teachers are convinced that without this residential, Melissa’s refusal to attend school would almost certainly have led to her being neither in employment nor education.

While Learning Away believes all residentials have their benefits, they want to encourage schools to run what we call “brilliant residentials”, getting the very most out of these learning experiences.

We are campaigning to ensure that children of all ages and backgrounds are provided with just such an experience while at school. And I’m delighted to say that East Ayrshire Council is leading the way: it is the first authority in Scotland to announce that all pupils, across its 54 schools, will be entitled to a high-quality residential learning experience.

*Names have been altered

Kim Somerville is national campaign coordinator for Learning Away, which is run by a consortium led by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom