Cumulus Outdoors Curriculum Day Trips School Trip
Swanage BH19 2PX
We are extremely fortunate to be able to provide all of our outdoor activities within the stunning landscapes found in South Dorset in the Isle of Purbeck. The area is the eastern gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site - walk along the South West Coast Path and pass the magnificent Old Harry Rocks, Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door. Surrounded on three sides by sea water, coastal Purbeck boasts some of the best sea views and spectacular scenery along the whole of the south coast. Due to the outstanding geology and palaeontology, the Dorset (and East Devon) coastline has been listed as a Natural World Heritage Site and Jurassic Coastline. We are ideally situated to be able to provide activity days which are both adventurous and/or educational depending on your requirements and learning outcomes.
We hold the LOtC Quality Badge, the AALS licence, the Adventure Mark and the BAPA certification. These all mean that we have been assessed to provide a safe activity day for your students. We will meet your visit expectations, aims and outcomes; all necessary documentation, policies, protocols, and procedures are in place, and you do not have to spend additional time ensuring the provision meets the school’s requirements for the trip.
Activities are led by experienced, friendly instructors incorporating our “Challenge by Choice” ethos, so your pupils will only ever attempt something there are totally comfortable with. However, with instructor support, people often achieve more than they thought possible!
Teacher Checklist
Risk Assessments Free Places for Teachers LOtC Quality Badge AALA Licence Institute of Outdoor Learning British Activity Providers Association Adventure Mark Duke of Edinburgh Award £10m PL Insurance
What activities are available during educational visits?
• Coasteering: An action-packed adventure along the world famous Jurassic Coastline, coasteering takes students on an exploration of caves, rock pools and cliffs. The activity includes swimming, scrambling and cliff jumping.
• Kayaking: The students will have a lot of fun, learning how to control their kayaks and developing confidence in the water through basic paddle strokes and water safety techniques.
• Rock Climbing & Abseiling: The students will learn how to fit a climbing harness, tie basic climbing knots and enjoy sea cliff climbing.
• Team building: The students will work in their teams to compete in a series of fun challenges, putting their problem-solving skills to the test
• Bushcraft: Students will work through workshops scenarios which cover a range of bushcraft skills. Tailored to meet the age and abilities of the group, these workshops are designed to learn new or enhance their existing skills.
• High Ropes: Students will conquer their fears as they tackle our high and low ropes course. Great fun and extremely rewarding.
• Tunnelling: Throughout this activity, pupils will have a blast crawling around the man-made tunnels to reach specific locations and pre-set goals!
• Standup Paddle Boarding: Students will learn how to master the skills necessary for successful paddleboarding whilst having great fun on the water.
Other activities include target sports, tag archery, indoor bouldering, waterpark, mud trail, team games and fossil hunting.
Further activity information on learning outcomes can be seen on the schools page of our website.
• Kayaking: The students will have a lot of fun, learning how to control their kayaks and developing confidence in the water through basic paddle strokes and water safety techniques.
• Rock Climbing & Abseiling: The students will learn how to fit a climbing harness, tie basic climbing knots and enjoy sea cliff climbing.
• Team building: The students will work in their teams to compete in a series of fun challenges, putting their problem-solving skills to the test
• Bushcraft: Students will work through workshops scenarios which cover a range of bushcraft skills. Tailored to meet the age and abilities of the group, these workshops are designed to learn new or enhance their existing skills.
• High Ropes: Students will conquer their fears as they tackle our high and low ropes course. Great fun and extremely rewarding.
• Tunnelling: Throughout this activity, pupils will have a blast crawling around the man-made tunnels to reach specific locations and pre-set goals!
• Standup Paddle Boarding: Students will learn how to master the skills necessary for successful paddleboarding whilst having great fun on the water.
Other activities include target sports, tag archery, indoor bouldering, waterpark, mud trail, team games and fossil hunting.
Further activity information on learning outcomes can be seen on the schools page of our website.
Which curriculum topics do we cater for?
Environmental Geography School Trip
Conservation Climate change
In today's world, environmental awareness is an essential topic to help children understand the environments they live in and how these are affected by the actions of the human race. Improve your pupil's environmental awareness through activities such as beach litter surveys and environmental quality surveys and investigations.
Topics covered include biology, Geology, Environmental art, Weather and climate studies, and the Watercycle.
Physical Education School Trip
Climbing Canoeing Orienteering Archery Kayaking High Ropes Coasteering
Team challenges, challenge by choice on all adventure activities, learn about leadership qualities and team roles and help your students develop these skills plus self confidence and peer support. They can experience a wide variety of adventurous activities through our 'challenge by choice' ideology and achieve more than they ever thought possible.
The adventure activities we offer within our full programme residentials cover:
climbing, abseiling, coasteering, bushcraft, forest school, kayaking, raft racing, paddle boarding, high & low ropes, tunnelling, target sports and tag archery. Contact us with ideas for your activity programme and watch your pupils grow!
Bushcraft School Trip
Our exciting Bushcraft sessions and challenges are geared to help you get back to basics whilst also enjoying the natural environment. Using our own woodland sites in the Isle of Purbeck our school groups can make fires, build shelters, cook outdoors and learn about survival skills. Do you have what it takes to survive in the wild?
Human Geography School Trip
Settlement and land use Economic activity and trade Population Urbanisation
Visit local towns and cities in Dorset for population studies, urban development and regeneration and tourism studies. There are a wide selection of local examples to visit on your self-led field study visit to cover various aspects of human geography and also linking this to historical developments of settlements through time.
Saxons School Trip
Saxon Settlements
Explore Saxon sites across the Isle of Purbeck though educational walks, historical talks and site visits. Visit Corfe Castle and learn about the Saxon history on this famous site, a perfect location for castle construction in defence of the area and protection of the surrounding inhabitants.
Watersports School Trip
SUP Stand Up Paddleboarding Kayaking Canoeing Raft Building Power Boating
Coasteering is a fabulous sea and cliff based activity, which allows you to explore the Jurassic Coast under the supervision of qualified and experienced instructors. This fun water based activity involves rock scrambling and jumping, swimming and cave exploration.
Kayaking, Stand-Up Paddleboarding and Raft Building are also available on the picturesque lake. Learn how to paddle and control a kayak and SUP plus master the skill of building your own raft and then racing across the lake!
Visit Dorset Adventure park and tackle the mud-trail or the water-park.
Medieval School Trip
Norman Conquest
Click to read full text A short drive from Swanage inland, is Corfe Castle, a quintessential English village which has grown up around an important defensive castle renowned in English history during the Civil war. Now owned and run by the National Trust, your students can visit the castle and learn about how Lady Mary Bankes defended the last Royalist garrison on the south coast with her children and an army of five men until one of her band led the Parliamentarians in through a side gateway.
The castle boasts a thousand years of history, from its original construction by William the Conqueror, through its destruction after the Civil War to its preservation by the National Trust today. Your students will have a fun, hands-on history lesson led by our teaching staff. This can focus on topics such as continuity and change and we are happy to tailor your visit to other curriculum objectives.
Physical Geography School Trip
Coasts and seaside Fieldwork Rivers Environment
Click to read full text Our residential centre location in Swanage, Dorset is a gateway town to the World Heritage Jurassic Coast and we work in partnership with the Jurassic Coast Trust. Your students will have the opportunity to see the rocks and the resulting landscapes formed in three geological time periods, the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. Spanning the time between 250 million years ago and 65 million years ago in a 95 miles of the South Coast from Exmouth in Devon to Studland in Dorset. We can provide you with classroom facilities to study this important geological area and with transport to get you to fossil rich areas such as Kimmeridge Bay, and the iconic Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door. We also provide tuition and guides for your studies.
Swanage Bay is an ideal location for studying coastal erosion and methods in place to try and slow the process down. Walk over Ballard Down to see Old Harry Rocks as a perfect display of chalk stacks and then visit Lulworth Cove, Stair Hole and Durdle Door for the complete landform examples of the whole erosion process.
Our activities include:
• Map making – pupils have a go at being cartographers!
• Navigation and map symbols – learning about navigation and maps though games.
• Geography in action.
• Coastal studies – choose from; coastal erosion and deposition, coastal management, beach profiles, sand dune studies and wildlife surveys.
• River studies.
• Fieldwork investigations.
• Sketch maps and field sketches.
• Grid references – learn how to grid reference through outdoor games and activities.
Fieldstudies School Trip
Coastal Geology Rivers
Click to read full text We can delivery high quality residential Geography and Geology field study courses for KS2, KS3, GCSE, IGCSE, A Level, IBDP and Scottish Higher Level in the UK. These field study Residentials are bookable from February to April and September to November each year. The courses can be tailored to meet your needs and requirements and equipment can be supplied, we are happy to run courses for smaller class sizes from 10 students and above.
For Primary Level topics covered include river studies, coastal erosion, orienteering, map skills, historical days, WW11,
For Secondary Level; The Isle of Purbeck, and the broader Dorset area, provide ideal locations for fieldwork and can be used by both AS students to cover the two days of Fieldwork required and by A-Level students completing their NEAs
We will offer guidance on logistics, locations, equipment, theory and opportunities available to your students, at whatever level required.
Geology School Trip
Geological Processes Rocks Soils Fossils
Click to read full text Our residential centre location in Swanage, Dorset is a gateway town to the World Heritage Jurassic Coast. Here your students will have the opportunity to see the rocks and the resulting landscapes formed in three geological time periods called the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous, spanning the time between 250 million years ago and 65 million years ago in a 95 miles of the south coast from Exmouth in Devon to Studland in Dorset. We can provide you with classroom facilities to study this important geological area and with transport to get you to fossil rich areas such as Kimmeridge Bay, and the iconic Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door. Our Business Partnership with the Jurassic Coast Trust enables us to arrange for bespoke sessions with their ambassadors to deliver sessions for your pupils on site or in the classroom.
Our activities include:
• Learning about the three main rock types.
• The Rock Cycle.
• Fossils – visiting local sites, fossil hunting and learning about fossil formation at Kimmeridge, Swanage or Acton.
• The Jurassic Coast: its formation and composition.
• Investigate! How soil is made?
• Our Geology Workshop classroom activities.
• Fieldwork and geological tours for older groups.
Prehistory School Trip
Stone Age Bronze Age Iron Age
Learn about the Isle of Purbeck, how it has changed overtime and about the people who have inhabited it. Visit locations showing evidence of prehistory inhabitation, from stone rings to barrows/tumuli, you will see how people lived in the Isle of Purbeck
Wildlife School Trip
Visit different habitats and learn about the species which inhabit them. Compare contrasting habitats such as rocky and sandy shores. Explore sand dune habitats at Studland Peninsular by learning about plant succession. Visit Durlston Country Park for whole or half day activities to engage with the natural environment through nature connection activities and environmental education. We also run pond dipping sessions in our centre pond where pupils learn about invertebrates, food chains and the health of aquatic environments.
Victorian School Trip
Queen Victoria Railways
Explore your victorians topic with a day trip to the victorian seaside town of Swanage (dressing up is encouraged). Visits can include visiting; Swanage Heritage Centre, Swanage Steam Railway, Swanage Pier and Durlston Castle. Swanage is an ideal location to study local history with a wide selection of opportunities to learn about how the Victorians lived, what work they undertook and how they enabled the town to develop and grow.
World War School Trip
The Home Front Evacuation D Day Landings and VE Day How and why the War started Trench Warfare Technological developments
Our Swanage centre is located 15 minutes drive from Studland Beach which was used to practise for the D-Day landings. Learn about the Second World War by arriving as evacuees by steam train to Swanage; visiting historical sites such as North Fort and Studland Beach; and visiting Bovington Tank Museum.
Local History School Trip
Learn about how Swanage has changed through time from a small fishing village, to an important quarrying area and tourist town.
Learn about the history of the Jurassic Coast though guided walks, fossil hunting and site visits. Experience what the Isle of Purbeck was like during the Jurassic period by visiting the Etches Collection: Museum of Jurassic Marine life. Walk in the footsteps of dinosaurs at Acton dinosaur trackway.
Biology School Trip
Plants Animals including humans Living things and habitats Evolution and inheritance Ecology and environment Life Cycles Minibeasts Habitats Dinosaurs Underwater Animals and Habitats Relationships in an ecosystem (KS3/4) Forest School
Click to read full text • Minibeast hunters – Hunt around our site or one of our local sites for minibeasts and then identify them.
• Animals, food chains and habitats studies – explore a range of different habitats and find out how the animals that link to them interact.
• Animal detectives – looking for signs of animals and exploring their features.
• Evolution and adaptations – looking at how animals have changed over time by exploring fossil records or how animals have adapted to their habitats by looking at the ultimate survivors!! Rockpool creatures!!!
• Predators and prey – learn about the adaptations of predators and prey and their survival methods!
• Moth trapping – learn about how our moth trap is set up and then identify your catches.
• Bird watching – identifying birds from our bird watching area overlooking Townsend Nature Reserve.
• Rockpool explorers – identifying rockpool inhabitants and learning about the amazing adaptations of rockpool creatures.
• Habitat explorers – explore beach, woodland, heathland, sand dune, river, pond or wildflower meadow habitat investigations.
*These can be adapted for different age groups
Explore different habitats and visit sites around the Isle of Purbeck to learn about wildlife; Kimmeridge Bay for zonation, rockpools, fossils and rocks, Studland for habitats, succession and beach studies, RSPB Arne for bird watching.
Art School Trip
Printmaking Drawing Sculpture Painting Craft Multimedia
There is a wide selection of art activity you can chose to undertake air Cumulus; explore the work Andy Goldsworthy and other environmental artists, follow the art trail around Swanage town with the numerous artists who found inspiration in the town, or create your own giant artwork using natural resources. How about trying your hand at field sketching or even water colour painting? We can facilitate these options for your students.
Team Building School Trip
With a variety of team building exercises, challenges and games, your students will learn how to work as a team to solve the questions posed of them. Team building is incorporated into many of our adventure activities concentrating on how to achieve the best from everyone, support, encouragement, planning, leadership and self-confidence.
Forest School School Trip
Click to read full text Experience the transformative power of nature with our forest school programme. Moving beyond the pressures of a traditional classroom, our approach allows children to slow down and reconnect with their environment. Many students live within urban areas leading a busy life and have little chance to regularly engage with and appreciate the benefits of natural green areas.
With a blended offer of structured activities that teach essential survival skills like fire lighting and shelter building, alongside student-led explorations that foster creativity through nature art and problem-solving activities, children will discover the diverse array of animals, plants, insects and birds, igniting their curiosity and desire to learn more.
Time spent in nature not only enhances concentration and problem-solving skills but also nurtures a deep affinity for the natural world. As they engage with nature, students will build self-confidence and teamwork skills, learning how to collaborate harmoniously with the environment around them.
At Cumulus, we can offer fully immersive residentials focused on the forest school approach, as well as the option to incorporate forest school or bushcraft sessions into your activity program. We can also tailor activity days centered on forest school values to meet your students' needs.
Contact us today to discuss how we can create meaningful experiences and outcomes for your students. Together, let’s explore the wonders of nature!
What size groups do we cater for?
From 10 up to 100, this is dependant on the type of activity chosen - please contact us to discuss further.
On-site classroom facilities?
Yes we have classrooms at our Residential Centre
Is there first aid on site?
Yes, all our activity instructors have a minimum 16 hour First Aid qualification
Access for visitors with disabilities
We ask you to please contact us to discuss any disabled facilities required for your trip.
Visitors with Special Educational Needs (SEN)
We do have the capacity to cater for Special Educational Needs and are happy to work with schools to provide safe, fun and educational experiences for everyone, please contact us for further details.
Anything else?
Dorset Tourism Awards 2019 Cumulus Outdoors Gold Award
"A great team and excellent instructors in a superb location"
A Very Caring Company
"I have had dealings with this company providing bushcraft and camping facilities for young people in Dorset. It is always a worry about the care that is given to children away from home, and this is one company with proper family values. You get a real sense that you can trust them as they respond at a very human level, whilst maintaining a totally professional approach. Bravo Cumulus, I'm impressed!"
Christine D
"A great team and excellent instructors in a superb location"
A Very Caring Company
"I have had dealings with this company providing bushcraft and camping facilities for young people in Dorset. It is always a worry about the care that is given to children away from home, and this is one company with proper family values. You get a real sense that you can trust them as they respond at a very human level, whilst maintaining a totally professional approach. Bravo Cumulus, I'm impressed!"
Christine D
Who are Cumulus Outdoors?
Do your students like the outdoors? Are they ready for a challenge? Are you wanting to reward them for a hard year at school? Or do you want them to experience something a little different? Our range of outdoor adventure activities on the Dorset coast will provide you with just what you're looking for .. and more!
At Cumulus Outdoors we offer a wide range of watersports and outdoor adventure activities from our base in Swanage. Activities take place along the picturesque Jurassic Coast with expert guidance from our team of experienced instructors. Try new activities and experience the thrill of the great outdoors, whilst admiring the beauty of the Dorset coast from the sea.
Outdoor adventure activities in Dorset
Choose from a wide range of adrenaline fuelled activities, including coasteering, climbing, kayaking and bushcraft, tag archery, rifle target shooting and team building. These adventures are not only fun and exhilarating but they can also have learning outcomes for your students and these can be tailor-made to fit your particular requirements.
Teacher Checklist
Risk Assessments Free Places for Teachers LOtC Quality Badge AALA Licence Institute of Outdoor Learning British Activity Providers Association Adventure Mark Duke of Edinburgh Award £10m PL Insurance
How Cumulus Outdoors Helps Anxious Pupils Emotionally Prepare For Residential Trips
A school residential should feel exciting for pupils and reassuring for families, yet it is completely normal for some children and parents to feel nervous in the lead up to the trip. At Cumulus Outdoors we understand this anticipation and work hard to create a safe, supportive and predictable environment long before pupils arrive on site. Our goal is simple. We want every child to feel ready for the adventure, every parent to feel at ease, and every school to trust that their pupils are in capable hands. Below is an in depth look at how we prepare anxious pupils and reassure parents.
Creating Lasting Memories: Affordable School Trips with Cumulus
As teachers and parents, we all remember our own school trips and we want the same for our own children.
Young People Love Learning When Learning Is So Much Fun!
Research supports the fact that children learn faster and more effectively when they are engaged in enjoyable and playful activities.
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