Media Enquiries
UK Outdoors
Andy Robinson
Jim Whittaker
c/o Montfort Communications
Nick Bastin bastin@montfort.london
+44 (0) 7931 500 066
Woolf Thomson Jones woolf@montfort.london
+44 (0) 7376 392 693
Notes to Editors
About UK Outdoors
UK Outdoors is the industry body for outdoor learning, representing over 5000 individuals and organisations in the outdoor & environmental education and adventure world. We deliver one voice and the best support for individuals and organisations throughout the sector.
Outdoor learning changes lives and provides opportunities for all students, regardless of background. The sector holds a pivotal role in supporting schools to develop students’ social and mental health wellbeing through adventure and engagement with the natural environment.
The outdoor learning sector delivers formative educational experiences to at least 5m students across the UK every year. The sector provides over 15,000 jobs and £700m to the UK economy.
About the School Travel Sector Stakeholder Group (STSSG)
Following the review of guidance on overnight educational visits (the “Review”), the Department for Education (“DfE”) has convened a School Travel Sector Stakeholder Group (the “Stakeholder Group”) to continue to represent the sector’s interests and address potential challenges ahead of the sector’s restart in Easter 2021. The Stakeholder Group is made up of representatives drawn from the educational visits and travel sector and come from industry bodies, trade associations and providers. The participants invited by the DfE are:
· ABTA – The Travel Association
· AHOEC – Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres
· AITO – Association of Independent Tour Operators
· BAPA – British Activity Providers Association
· CLOTC – Council for Learning Outside the Classroom
· EPA – Expedition Providers Association
· IOL – Institute for Outdoor Learning
· Outdoor Council
· OEAP – Outdoor Education Advisers’ Panel
· PGL
· STF – School Travel Forum
· Tall Ships Youth Trust
The Stakeholder Group expects all its members to understand the views of their constituents and ensure they are fully represented.
The Stakeholder Group is clear that building school confidence to plan overnight educational visits for the Summer term is now our priority, to ensure that students can access this vital educational asset now and in to the future. Supporting the residential sector to restart at Easter will save thousands of jobs, livelihoods and educational visits providers. Such educational visits – well evidenced for supporting physical and mental health, socio-emotional and cognitive outcomes - have a huge role to play in the recovery of our society and our children and young people from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The DfE and Stakeholder Group will focus on the following workstreams in the coming months:
▪ Developing a Road Map for the safe reintroduction for overnight educational visits.
▪ Raise the profile of the overnight educational visits and the unique contribution they make to children’s education
▪ Build confidence among schools to reengage and plan residential educational visits
▪ Build stronger relationships with PHE to better understand the science and explore a greater range of safe working practices and procedures to support the opening of the sector
▪ Work to address issues around insurance for school educational visits
▪ Identify and enable providers to access the necessary financial support to enable them to re-open for Easter 2021
▪ | Developing a Road Map for the safe reintroduction for overnight educational visits. |
▪ | Raise the profile of the overnight educational visits and the unique contribution they make to children’s education |
▪ | Build confidence among schools to reengage and plan residential educational visits |
▪ | Build stronger relationships with PHE to better understand the science and explore a greater range of safe working practices and procedures to support the opening of the sector |
▪ | Work to address issues around insurance for school educational visits |
▪ | Identify and enable providers to access the necessary financial support to enable them to re-open for Easter 2021 |
For further details of the work of this group please contact: info@ukoutdoors.org.uk
UK Outdoors: c/o IOL Office (01228 564580)
Or, your appropriate member organisation above.