Building confidence through adventure: the power of residential trips

In a time where academic success is measured by test scores and classroom performance, it’s easy for schools to overlook the brilliance of a school residential!

School trips to Mount Cook Adventure Centre can be a transformative time for children and can offer powerful opportunities for personal growth, social development, and memorable learning that a textbook cannot provide. The Wildlife Trust showed 79% of children felt more confidence after engaging with nature!

For many children, school residential trips are their first night away from home. While that may seem like a small step, it’s a big step for them to start building their self-determination in a post-covid world! Residential trips can help them build their independence by unpacking their own belongings, choosing their own meals, making their bed and handling their own money in the gift shop. All these skills are key for children to gain personal growth that they wouldn’t in the classroom, all while still in a safe environment.

Some children may be more nervous about being in a new setting but here at Mount Cook Adventure Centre, we are proud to have an amazing and supporting team who are fully trained in outdoor education and first aid – and they will also be happy to help with any little ones’ worries or queries. The children’s safety and comfort are always our top priority, and we are here to guide them through any little wobbles in their stay!

The benefits of school residential trips have been spoken about many times, even from Ofsted themselves! One Ofsted report stated that learning outside the classroom contributed significantly to raising standards and improving pupils’ personal, social and emotional development. When children gain this newfound confidence of being away, their relationships increase too; 86% of students report feeling closer to their teachers after a trip. Many students also come back with new friends! Whether this is from sharing a room with new peers or doing a team-building activity with a group of students you usually wouldn’t work with, this improves the students social and communication skills.

When using our own theory of change model we found outstanding results from over 60 different schools. 80% of students had an improvement in their social skills, 93% had a boost in their emotional skills and 96% had an increase in personal development skills! If those statistics don’t persuade you to do a residential trip, I don’t know what will!

On a Mount Cook Adventure Centre residential trip, we hold plenty of activities for all different purposes. Looking for a teamwork-based day? We have orienteering, problem solving and even raft building sessions! Would you prefer a resilience and self-confidence themed residential trip? We have a via ferrata, high ropes course with multiple activities to take part in, rock climbing, and many more!

If your students are little historians then we can even offer historical package residential trips here at Mount Cook! This would include a day full of Roman, Viking or Pre-historic Britain themed activities, such as archaeological digs, fire lighting and longboat building. Come along for a Thor-some day!

So, if you’re thinking about whether a residential is “worth it,” the answer is a resounding yes. These trips offer memories, lessons, and life skills that will stick with children long after the bus pulls back into the school car park.

As one visiting teacher put it:

“The location, the wonderful centre, the food, friendly staff, engaging activities. We loved it all!”– Teacher May 2025

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