Following an annual audit and assessment by the School Travel Forum we have shown ourselves to be at the top of the class for school trips by being reawarded the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge.
Awarded by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom, the LOtC Quality Badge combines, for the first time, learning and safety into one easily recognisable badge for all organisations providing learning outside the classroom experiences.
The LOtC Quality Badge was launched in 2009 as part of the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto, a national initiative to ensure young people are given more opportunities to have these experiences as part of the curriculum. The LOtC Quality Badge is designed to make it easier for teachers to identify providers of quality educational visits and school trips. Organisations will display the LOtC Quality Badge as a signal to schools that their venue has met required standards, so teachers do not need to carry out their own risk or quality assessments.
Providers looking to gain the LOtC Quality Badge will need to meet a set of six quality indicators and will be supported through a developmental process by a package of on-line support materials, which will include guidance, good practice exemplars, downloadable templates and training materials.
Elaine Skates, Chief Executive of CLOtC said:
School trips are among the most memorable experiences in a child’s school life. The LOtC Quality Badge offers teachers a guarantee that not only is a company providing the sort of educational value that they can build on in class long after the trip but they also have the appropriate risk management structures in place.
Learning outside the classroom has many proven educational benefits. The LOtC Quality Badge will reduce red tape and provide assurance for schools, thereby ensuring that many more young people have memorable, exciting and valuable learning outside the classroom experiences.
I congratulate Burleigh Travel on being awarded the LOtC Quality Badge.â€
There have been a number of studies that look at the impact of educational visits and school trips on pupils’ academic achievements and social development.
Ofstead’s ‘Learning outside the Classroom’ (2008) study found that “learning outside the classroom contributed significantly to raising standards and improving pupils personal, social and emotional development.” ‘Every Experience Matters’ (2008) supports this and found that “children engaged in LOtC achieved higher scores, had improved physical fitness and motor skills development, improved confidence and self-esteem, developed leadership qualities and increased their social competence.”
The Impact of Learning Away (2015) found that students showed an “increased knowledge and understanding, fostered deeper relationships with peers and staff, had increased resilience, self confidence and wellbeing, and provided opportunities for student leadership.” This is supported by research done by the School Travel Forum this year who when speaking to schools found that 60% of teachers reported an increase in student confidence, resilience and wellbeing, and that over 60% of their students had done better than their predicted grades.