Millport field centre is on an island, located right on the coast and close to field sites. The centre has a high standard of accommodation with twin en suite rooms in two blocks. It is easily accessible on a 10 minute ferry from the mainland at Largs.
Build your perfect outdoor learning trip with us!
Using activities in the natural environment we support personal development and highlight the many benefits of spending time outdoors.
Programmes can be tailored to your exam board specifications covering the relevant content you require.
Our residential trips are designed to build resilience, boost confidence, and strengthen communication skills.
Outdoor Learning courses are created to complement the curriculum, and engage pupils with subjects in fresh, hands-on ways.
Adventure learning encourages children to push beyond their comfort zones and discover what they're capable of. With carefully tailored, age-appropriate challenges, every child is supported to grow their knowledge and learn in new and exciting ways.
All our residential centres will provide you with:
· A qualified tutor to oversee your trip
· Pre-trip planning including itinerary, kit lists, and risk assessments
· Centres with up to 180 beds, offering flexible rooming options and all bedding included
· Healthy filling meals from dinner on your first day to a packed lunch on your last day
· We hold Learning Outside the Classroom's Quality Badge so there is less paperwork for you
·Free use of waterproofs and wellies
Millport field centre is part of Field Studies Council, an environmental education charity with 80 years' experience of providing fieldwork and outdoor learning and a network of UK centres offering day and residential fieldwork opportunities.
We work in many other ways to create a world where everyone feels connected to the environment including through projects working in local communities and lobbying government to include fieldwork in the curriculum.
Current special offers for school groups
*25% off school residential trips with an arrival date during the next three months.
Our late availability offer is available for our full range of courses for visits with an arrival date during the next three months, for customers visiting one of our listed centres*
If you are interested in booking at the discounted rate, please fill in the form on the web site, stating any dates you are able to consider. Or get in touch with our team for an no-obligation quote and to check which centres currently have space.
Standard 2026 price examples:
Book a Primary 2-night stay for just £174 per student per student (normally £231 per pupil).
Book a GCSE 2-night stay for just £193 per student (normally £257 per student).
Book an A Level 2-night stay for just £201 per student per student (normally £268 per student).
Please get in touch for current pricing
valid until: January 2028
15% off for new residential customers
We are currently offering 15% off for new residential customers. Enter the code NEW15 on any of our enquiry forms across the website to take up our special offer, or contact our team for a no-obligation quote.
Standard 2026 price examples:
Book a Primary 2-night stay for just £174 per student per student (normally £231 per pupil).
Book a GCSE 2-night stay for just £193 per student (normally £257 per student).
Book an A Level 2-night stay for just £201 per student per student (normally £268 per student).
Please get in touch for current pricing
valid until: January 2027
We have special rates for schools in quieter months
Off-peak pricing available
Different price bands are offered throughout the year to offer value for money.Talk to our team about the best options for your group.
What activities are available during educational visits in 2026 & 2027?
There is a wide range of activities available such as:
Primary: minibeast hunt, pond dipping, hiking, low ropes, eco-activity, rock climbing, bushcraft, orienteering
Secondary/A level: geography independent investigations, adventurous geography, coastal geography, biology core practicals
Which curriculum topics do we cater for?
Fieldstudies
Sampling and Statistics Coastal Ecosystems Rivers
We offer a range of sessions and courses covering field studies. For KS4 and A level students we link all of our courses to the exam board requirements for each subject and can tailor the course to your specific needs.
Field studies can be covered through fieldwork in a range of sessions and courses.
This can include:
- Sampling Statistics
- Fieldwork Methodology
- Investigation Introduction
- Coastal Environments
- Ecosystems
- Mapping
- River Studies
- Habitats etc
For KS4 and A level students all of our courses are linked to the exam board requirements for each subject and can be tailored to meet your specific needs.
Science Biology
>
Plants Animals including humans Living things and habitats Evolution and inheritance Ecology and environment Life Cycles Minibeasts Habitats Underwater Animals and Habitats
We can offer a range of biology courses from KS2 to curriculum-based A level trips.
Our expert tutors create and deliver biology experiences to suit your requirements.
The biology fieldwork courses at our centres are tailored to A Level, IB, GCSE, National and Higher specifications with relevant syllabus content and practicals.
Students undertake ecological investigations in a variety of inspiring habitats and complete relevant required practicals, from a range of a range of topics. This can include:
Current ecological 'hot topics' and synoptic links are introduced, and students are challenged to question the world around them.
Biodiversity sessions, comparing two habitats, calculating species diversity and investigate variation.
Ecological Energetics investigations will looking at energy flow and the efficiency of energy transfer within an ecosystem, either in freshwater or on the rocky shore, depending on the centre.
We also offer contextualised learning opportunities for KS3 science, where pupils explore a local environment, habitat or ecosystem, eg rocky shore, freshwater or woodland.
KS2 pupils can look at a range of habitats, learning about microhabitats and how they provide the basic needs for living things. Pupils can learn to identify the different structures of plants and name a variety of common animals through a mini beast hunt or pond dipping sessions and observe them in their microhabitats.
Environmental Geography
>
Plastic pollution Extreme Weather Climate change
Students can cover a range of environmental geography topics looking at different plants and animals.
Dependant on the course you choose, students could have the opportunity to;
- take first hand measurements, make observations of distinctive river land forms found at the fieldwork sites along the river.
- make a comparison of two different areas used to observe the contrasting abundance of plants associated with varying management regimes.
- Investigate how human activity affects biodiversity, local flows, cycles and processes.
Delivered by expert, passionate tutors at the forefront of fieldwork tuition with a wide range of contrasting locations available.
Human Geography
>
Settlement and land use Natural resources Population Urbanisation
We offer a range of sessions and courses covering human geography through fieldwork. Most sessions have short classroom sessions before and after.
Human Geography can be covered through fieldwork in a range of sessions and courses. Depending on the level and course you follow, this may include;
- Discovering the impact of people on the habitat using a range of fieldwork techniques
- Economic Growth and functions
- Regeneration and Placemaking
- Investigate the impact of counter-urbanisation in two contrasting settlements
- A qualitative and a quantitative fieldwork method
- develop an understanding of questions that can be investigated through fieldwork
- data presentation and analysis
Teaching is delivered by fully trained and experienced tutors.
Physical Geography
>
Water cycles Rivers Map and atlas Environment Coasts and seaside Fieldwork
Geography courses cover KS2 to A level groups. KS2 pupils can use maps, stories and games to explore the woods. Discover the plants and animals that live here and design and build dens.
Our geography fieldwork trips and courses are carefully designed to cover all essential content from the curriculum. We ensure the maximum time outdoors possible, allowing students to take advantage of all benefits resulting from outdoor learning.
The geography fieldwork courses are tailored to curriculum requirements for GCSE, A Level, National, Higher, IB and lower secondary specifications and packed with relevant fieldwork content.
A selection of our popular residential visits to give an idea of what we can offer include:
Coastal - Where the land meets the sea, the UK's coastline is over 7500 miles in length, and are influenced by many physical and human forces, with dramatic consequences for the people who live there.
Rivers - constantly changing, water levels rise and fall after rain and with the seasons. Erosion, transportation and deposition can all alter the characteristics of the channel and the regime of the river
Regeneration - a complex process aiming to turn areas into sustainable, desirable and effective spaces for us to use and enjoy.
Investigations - at a local scale to consider place meaning and representation changing economic function and socio-demographic characteristics of places.
But we can also create a trip that is totally bespoke to your needs.
Teaching is delivered by fully trained and experienced tutors, to create and deliver geography experiences to suit your requirements. Most sessions have short classroom sessions before and after.
Bushcraft
>
Identify basic survival needs, explore the woods, build a shelter and forage for wild foods. Follow a woodland trail and search for tracks and signs. A day filled with team building and problem solving activities.
We offer a range of sessions and courses on bushcraft including den building, fire lighting foraging and more, delivered by fully trained and experienced tutors.
Physical Education
>
Climbing Archery
Millport field centre can offer a range of adventurous activities including hiking, archery, rock climbing and raft building. Pupils can do these activities in a residential course alongside curriculum content or environmental education.
Team Building
>
Courses fuse fieldwork with outdoor activities to give students the opportunity to explore real geographical contexts in an exciting and engaging way. Our courses allows students to get first-hand experiences of a range of physical landscapes and processes and a unique insight into the interaction of people and the environment.
Individuals undertaking the course will be encouraged to develop their team skills and individual motivation whilst involved in activities that promote a healthy lifestyle.
Wildlife
>
Students will look at a variety of plants and common animals using age appropriate classification keys to identify living things we find in our woodland and in our pond habitats.
Discover what animals and plants can be found in the local area. Pupils have the opportunity to identify a range of plants and invertebrates and investigate how they interact with each other.
Understand that plants play an important role in the survival of animals by looking at simple food chains/webs. They will investigate how living things are adapted to the environment they live in and how their habitats help them to survive. Investigate the structure of a plant and discover their roles. Classify a variety of invertebrates using their features and investigate how they are adapted to their habitat.
Outdoor Learning
What size groups do we cater for?
We can cater for groups of varying size. Some courses have a minimum of 10 students. This centre has 139 beds.
On-site classroom facilities?
Millport field centre has several work rooms which all have whiteboards including two classrooms, a brand new lecture theatre seating up to 100 people and four seawater-fed laboratories equipped with microscopy equipment.
Is there first aid on site?
All our field teachers are trained in first aid and group management. A qualified first aider is available at the field centre 24 hours a day.
Teacher Checklist
Get Risk Assessments Inspection Visits Free Places for Teachers Bursaries or Funded Places Available Resource Packs LOtC Quality Badge AALA Licence Institute of Outdoor Learning Duke of Edinburgh Award
Who are Field Studies Council?
Field Studies Council offers fieldwork and outdoor learning for groups of all ages at centres across the UK. Trips use our stunning locations to teach curriculum focused work and inspire everyone about the environment.
Primary field trips enable you to pick and choose from a range of exciting adventure or curriculum sessions to build your own trip. Visits will immerse primary school children in the natural world, taking in its sights, sounds and smells.
For secondary and A level groups geography, biology and environmental science courses are offered. Courses can be tailored them to your own requirements to ensure you get the most from your visit and trips utilise our local environment to fully engage students.
Bring your subject to life in the outdoor classroom!
Isle of Cumbrae Ayrshire KA28 0EG
+Adventure: Going beyond the expected - Q&A
We talk to Matt Healey, Adventure Growth Lead at Field Studies Council about their new +Adventure residential trips.
We are bursting with school trip ideas on places that deliver first class teaching both outside the classroom and as in-school workshops. Feel free to use our tailor-made trip form and we can help you find the perfect experience for your class!