8 ways to take your next school trip from good to great

How does the saying go?

“All school trips are created equal. But some school trips are more equal than others?”

Yep, that’ll be it…

And that got us thinking: What’s the basic requirements a successful school trip?

Most would probably agree with this:

• Robust Safety Management

• Make the teacher’s life as easy as possible

• Deliver a programme that is educational

• Provide value for money

• Add in a generous portion of fun (Type 1 and Type 2 fun!)

Sorted.

The Bioasis - school trips that go beyond the ordinary

Which is why there are literally DOZENS of school trip companies and residential providers out there that tick all these boxes. So many, in fact, they risk merging into one mass of ordinariness that is more boring than a museum of magnolia paintings.

Show me a school trip or residential camp that doesn’t provide all the above.

If the above list is all you’re looking for from a school trip provider then you’re missing something massive – it’s called ‘an opportunity’.  

Above everything else, school trips are an opportunity to spark agency and real change in the next generation. For young people to find their place in the world. To open their eyes. Stretch their horizons. Inspire them to be a force for good in a world where young people need all the inspiration they can get.  

Anything less is a wasted opportunity.

And as we all know, you should never let a good opportunity go to waste.

So what to do?

Making school trips work harder

This is what we think elevates the mediocre and magnolia school trip into a planet-positive, meaningful, change catalyst of a school trip that your students will talk about for years to come:

1. Putting purpose into the programme: Learning to paddle a canoe is great. Learning to paddle a canoe in order to go wildlife watching and also undertake citizen science water quality testing is education + fun on a complete other level.

   
   

2. break out of the silos: The world isn’t siloed, so why is education? Economics, personal development, social cohesion, geography, salt marshes, plastic, consumerism, A.I., farming, food, politics – they are all interconnected. Bioasis programmes connect the dots. Does your school trip?

   
   

3. Activities to make the world a better place: getting hands on with conservation work and ocean plastic clean up improves biodiversity, nature’s resilience and shows young people and teachers (and ourselves) that none of us are too small to make a difference.

   
   

4. A location that tackles the mental health crisis: 5000 acres of woodland, wildflower meadows and salt marshes, no mobile phones, time to reconnected with nature and give proper importance to reflection.  

Looks better already wouldn’t you say?  

Educational canoe missions on the Bioasis estuary

Well, we’re not done. We think it’s also the really small things that matter. Things like:

5. Providing free of charge organic period products to all: Students, teachers and our staff. Because worrying about your period shouldn't stop you having a great adventure.

6. Healthy nutritious food: Cooked fresh on site, with vegetables from Riverford Organic.  

7. Proper Tea: Fairtrade. Fruit. Black. Herbal. Any which way you like it. And it’s Clipper Tea too, so none of those horrible plastic tea bags either!

8. Single accommodation for teachers with added va-va-voom:  Proper camp beds. Rugs. Fairy lights. Power bank. A deck chair. And the most simple/ingenious bedside table you’ve ever seen. #Justsaying

Amongst a host of other things.

So, if you want to ignite real planet-positive change in your students, why settle for anything magnolia? It's time to shake that tree of knowledge and demand a little more for your students.