Bring outdoor learning to life at Gowanbank Day Trips and Residentials for Schools
delight, inform and inspire! Residential and day experiencesthatwill
We are located in Darvel, Ayrshire, in the beautiful Irvine valley - just 35 minutes from the centre of Glasgow.
Where are we?
Why come to Gowanbank?
Tailored to your group
At SU Scotland, we have been delivering school residentials for over 25 years. We are an experienced and qualified staff team who are passionate about working with children and young people, guided by our Christian faith. We welcome children of all faiths and backgrounds and aim to provide a safe and welcoming environment for them to connect with themselves, others and the outdoors. We offer both residential and day experiences and would love to partner with your school to help bring outdoor learning to life. Learning outcomes We fully support the Curriculum for Excellence and we are passionate about ensuring every child has the opportunity to experience learning outside of the classroom walls.
KA17EastDarvelGowanbank,,Ayrshire,0LL 1
At Gowanbank, we work with you to provide a tailor-made programme, ideally suited to the needs and outcomes of your group.
Pupils will face new experiences and challenges which help them to grow confidence, independence and resilience, whilst deepening their relationships with peers and connecting with nature.
Primary Schools
Residentials are often the most memorable part of the school year. Memories are made that will last a lifetime. Our residentials are made up of a programme of 3-hour sessions, designed to delight, inform and inspire: building confidence, resilience and teamwork and, of course, having lots of fun! Our standard residential is Monday to Friday. We also offer 1, 2 and 3-night residentials if you’re looking for something shorter - or you can book an activity day. We can accommodate up to 32 pupils on our residentials. If you have a larger group, get in touch to discuss the options available. p. 21 2
Residentials
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We offer all primary schools the National Outdoor Learning Award (NOLA) as part of yourFindresidential.outmore about the awards we support on page 18. 3
Most popular A fun-filled programme of adventurous activities, with plenty of opportunity for personal growth and skills development - great for helping pupils to bond at the start of the school year.
We are passionate about bringing the classroom outdoors and would love to partner with you to create fieldwork opportunities and education trips tailored to your school - get in touch to start planning!
Mon - Fri from £289* per pupil
Transitioning to secondary school is a challenging time and a transition residential with us can help your children to build independence and resilience to cope with the transition. * Price for a 4-night residential in 2023. More prices can be found on our website. Financial support is available through our School Bursary Fund. See page 21 for more information.
Multi-activity residentials
See our example programme opposite.
Educational trips
P7 transition trips
4-night residential sample programme
Robert Burns Birthplace Museum (30 mins) See the cottage where Robert Burns was born and see more than 5000 Burns artefacts, including his handwritten manuscripts. Whitelee Wind Farm (25 mins) Been learning about sustainable energy in the classroom? Spend half a day at Whitelee Wind Farm and see it in action. about a day trip?
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GSC has hundreds of hands-on exhibits which bring learning to life and structured workshops covering a variety of topics, designed to link with and support the Curriculum for Excellence.
How
Gowanbank is in easy reach of many local attractions you can use to enhance your classroom learning. Here are some of our favourites: Glasgow Science Centre (35 mins)
Activity Days and ProgrammesMulti-Day
We believe that outdoor learning experiences are an essential part of childhood development, both enhancing and complementing learning inside the classroom. We are passionate about making outdoor learning accessible to every child in Scotland and activity days are an affordable, more accessible way to spend time away from the classroom. Our activity days start at £36 per pupil and we have support available through our School Bursary Fund for those who need it.
Primary Schools
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The children have had a great experience and have commented specifically on the quality of the food and the kindness of the staff. They don’t want to leave! The activities have been perfect and pitched at a level which both supports and challenges.
- Teacher, Barmulloch Primary School
Activity days Our activity days give children space to play and have fun whilst also building skills that help them to be successful learners back in the classroom.
Accessible to all For children with additional support needs, coming away for a residential may be challenging. An activity day can be the perfect way to engage these pupils in outdoor learning experiences and an ideal stepping stone to build towards a residential.
- Teacher, West Mains School
See what yourdayactivitycouldlooklike
“We had a fantastic couple of days and all of the West Mains team commented on how fantastic the Gowanbank staff were at adapting to the needs of our pupils and making it as engaging as it could be.”
Just a few hours out of the classroom helps children to develop strong relationships with their peers, improve their emotional literacy skills and grow into resilient, confident individuals - helping to close the attainment gap.
Multi-day programmes
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We’ll design a 6-8 week programme based around climbing or bushcraft skills and build your outcomes into the programme we put together.
Full-day sample programme
Welcome Welcome
Half-day sample programme
Why not make it a regular day out and book a series of activity days, working on a specific outcome?
Bring your own packed lunch or we can provide lunch for you
Whether you want to get back in time for school pick-up, or you want to stay on and have dinner with us, we can be flexible with our activity day programmes, with timings to suit you.
Residentials Secondary Schools 10
Residentials are often the most memorable part of the school year and the experience helps pupils learn to be independent, become more resilient, deepen relationships and grow in confidence - skills that will equip them for the future. Our residentials are made up of a programme of 3-hour sessions, designed to delight, inform and inspire whilst, of course, having lots of fun! Our standard residential is Monday to Friday. We also offer 1, 2 and 3-night residentials if you’re looking for something shorteror you can book an activity day. We can accommodate up to 32 pupils on our residentials. If you have a larger group, get in touch to discuss the options available.
Find out more about our activities on our website classroomoutdoors.org.uk/gowanbank
Morning Afternoon Evening Day 1 Day 2 Day Multi-activity3 residentials A fun-filled programme of adventurous activities, with plenty of opportunity for personal growth and skills development. See our example programme on page 5. 1-4 residentialsnightavailable
Adventure programmes Challenge your group further with a more advanced programme, spending a full day on watersports, biking or hillwalking. Choose to include an overnight camp to give your pupils a taste of life in the outdoors. Prices of these programmes vary depending on activities.
* Price for a 4-night residential in 2023. More prices can be found on our website. Financial support is available through our School Bursary Fund. See page 21 for more information.
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Help maintain study motivation by mixing scheduled classroom time with some fun activities. These residentials help young people to grow closer together as they support each other through some of the most intense times in their education.
Specialist residentials
Spend time out of the classroom but still have some time for teaching. We can organise a programme with dedicated teaching slots. You could even plan a day trip to enhance the classroom experience.
Most popular Activities focussed on leadership and team-building - perfect for prefect training or mentorship programme training.
Music rehearsals Use Gowanbank as a venue for your music residential, with the option of activity breaks between rehearsals.
Flexible programmes
Revision residentials and study breaks
Mon - Fri from £289* per pupil
Morning Afternoon Evening Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
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We are passionate about making outdoor learning accessible to every child in Scotland and activity days are an affordable, more accessible way to spend time away from the classroom. Activity days are particularly suited to groups with Additional Support Needs or emotional or behavioural issues where coming away for a residential may be challenging. Our activity days start at £36 per pupil and we have support available through our School Bursary Fund for those who need it.
Activity Days and ProgrammesMulti-Day Secondary Schools
- Teacher, St Matthew’s Academy
The School Bursary Fund was a great help in facilitating a positive morale-boosting day of outdoor experiences for some of our most disadvantaged pupils.
See page 9 for example programmes.
“My highlight was seeing my youngsters achieve more than they thought they could. They were so engaged in all the activities which doesn’t often happen in the class.”
- Teacher, Grange Academy
Great for support groups
Our activity days help children to develop strong relationships with their peers, improve their emotional literacy skills and grow into resilient, confident individuals. Regular outdoor learning experiences across the school year enhances classroom learning and gives pupils opportunity to build skills that help them back in the classroom too - helping to close the attainment gap.
Activity days
Activity days are a great way for learning support groups and pupil support groups to engage with the curriculum, outside of the classroom environment. We regularly work with these groups and would love to support your work with these pupils.
Week 1 Crate Climbing at Gowanbank Week 2 Abseiling at Mauchline Gorge Week 3 Outdoor Climb Week 4 Tree Climb at Gowanbank Week 5 Indoor Climbing Week 6 Climb or Overnight CampOutcome: relationshipsandtrustBuilding Take the challenge! Spend a night under the stars as a one-off camping trip or as a final challenge at the end of a 6-8 week outdoor survival programme. Multi-day programmes Bringing a group over a series of days gives more time to work towards an award or focus on specific outcomes. Outcomes of a multi-day programme: • Building trust and deepening relationships • Growing resilience and confidence • Managing risk • Problem-solving • Here’sTeamworkwhata6-week climbing programme could look like: 17
Recognising achievement through awards has also been shown to help raise Wantattainment.toworktowards an award not mentioned here?
Awards are a great way of evidencing the personal learning, skills development and achievement young people take part in and a great tool for young people to use to evaluate and consolidate their learning and Theydevelopment.helptodevelop self-confidence, resilience and important transferable skills in young people.
Get in touch - we’d love to partner with you to help to support your group in delivering your award programme.
Book a multi-week bouldering programme with us to work towards the National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme Bouldering Award. Find out more here: www.nicas.co.uk
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Awards
The John Muir Discovery Award is an environmental award which can be completed as part of a week-long residential, suited to upper primary level pupils. The award is free to complete and aims to encourage people to connect with, enjoy and care for our natural environment through four elements: Discover, Explore, Conserve, Share. Our activities enable pupils to Discover and Explore wild places and we include sessions dedicated to the Share and Conserve elements of the award. A certificate is awarded at the end of the week to recognise and celebrate their achievements. Find out more about the John Muir Award here: johnmuiraward.org
Get in touch to discuss how we can support you in delivering your Duke of Edinburgh Awards, from providing volunteering opportunities to hosting residentials and expeditions. We can partner with you to complete the Adventure section of the Junior Award Scheme for Schools, through an activity day or residential.
We offer all primary schools the National Outdoor Learning Award (NOLA) as part of your residential experience. Our programmes lend themselves well to NOLA and help children reflect on what they have learnt about themselves, others and the environment. Each child will receive a certificate and a badge to celebrate their completion of the award. There is no additional cost to complete the award.
All of our instructors are first-aid trained and our staff are members of the PVG scheme. included? en-suite accommodation catered 3 meals each day programme of activities free teacher place for every 8 pupils to our off-site activities
Before your stay Come and have a look around the centre and grounds before you book - we’d love to meet you and show you around. We also offer pre-visits to support children with ASN or anxiety who would find it helpful to visit before their trip to familiarise themselves with the centre. We’re happy to send pictures and videos of the centre and we can join parents’ evenings before your trip to answer any questions.
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Exclusive use of building on residentials
• Transport
Safety Safety and wellbeing of children and young people is our top priority. Our activities are fully licensed by the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) and we are registered with a number of local authorities as an accredited provider.
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01560 gowanbank@suscotland.org.uk323370
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Inclusion
Ready to start planning your school trip?
Our small team means you get to know us from day one - no unfamiliar faces. Our instructors are experienced and equipped to work with children and young people from all backgrounds and provide them with a safe, comfortable space to connect with themselves, others and the outdoors.
As a charity, our focus isn’t profit. We want to see as many children and young people as possible experiencing outdoor learning. We don’t want any child to be left behind!
How to book
We believe that every child has value and we aim to provide a safe place where they can have fun, meet new challenges and feel valued and accepted. We are keen to make school residentials accessible to all, so please get in touch to discuss the needs of your group.
Our School Bursary Fund is supported by generous donors who share our vision to work with children and young people at our outdoor centres and can provide up to 50% off the cost of the residential for individual pupils. If cost is an issue, please get in touch to discuss how we can support you.
Focus on the individual
We work with a ratio of up to 8 pupils to 1 instructor. Our experience shows this ensures every child feels included and maximises the opportunities for pupils to build strong relationships with their peers and school staff. Our team are able to get to know each pupil and offer tailored instruction to suit their needs.
Get in touch and our friendly team will be with you every step of the way. We’ll discuss your requirements and put together a programme tailored to your group. You’ll stay up-to-date with your booking on our online portal and we are always on the end of the phone if you have any questions.
Experienced and qualified staff
School Bursary Fund
We look forward to welcoming you to Gowanbank soon. We are happy to help with any further questions that you may have. How to contact classroomoutdoors.org.uk/gowanbankgowanbank@suscotland.org.uk01560KA17AyrshireDarvelGowanbankus:0LL323370 Scripture Union Scotland is a registered charity (no. SC011222) and company limited by guarantee (no.Sc54297). Registered Office: 70 Milton Street, Glasgow, G4 0HR