School Partnerships and Curriculum links

At My Big Adventure we provide much more than outdoor adventure activities. We are particularly proud of our coaching and innovative links to school curricula. Our successes in providing positive and nurturing experiences of learning to children and young people stretch back to 1988. Our programmes are the most child centred possible and the ethos of ‘enjoy and achieve’ is very strong with us. We have significantly helped raise the achievement level of many pupils who would have otherwise realised little of their potential due to their challenging behaviour and the extent of their disengagement and disaffection.

When planned and implemented well, learning outside the classroom contributed significantly to raising standards and improving pupils’ personal, social and emotional development. Ofsted: Oct. 2008 Learning outside the classroom.

We work mostly at KS3 and KS4 implementing the QCA Framework of personal, learning and thinking skills. We engage our target group through adventure activities and deliver a package of education and personal development through coaching and counselling. In this way we can effectively create situations in which our young people can feel good about learning. We can then address skill areas leading to independent enquirers, creative thinkers, reflective learners, team workers, self-managers, effective participators and ultimately to citizens successful in learning, life and work. We are extremely proud of the difference we can make.

our target groups are young people:

• In care
• With learning and emotional difficulties
• With low attendance
• At risk of exclusion

• Realign enjoyment with the challenge of learning
• Encourage and improve skills for learning and life
• Develop confidence in personal abilities and learning
• Promote responsibility for self and for others
• Encourage perseverance
• Mentor change through supportive relationships

We always seek to build on each individual’s aptitudes and interests and take all their enthusiasms and concerns seriously. We are capable of providing learning contexts not normally possible in either school or outdoor centre environments. We work hard to ensure all our young people enjoy themselves as successful learners and reach new levels of personal achievement through a rich variety of opportunities. Through our programme and curricula links we have found that young people are more likely to engage with other agencies and achieve higher standards across the board.