Outdoor Centre Adventures in the Peak District National Park

Dean from Crowden Outdoor Centre spoke to us about the unique residential stays they offer for Schools
Can you give us a brief introduction to Crowden Outdoor Centre?
We're an outdoor education and adventure activities centre, located in the north of the Peak District National Park, surrounded by the dramatic Dark Peak moors and hills.
At Crowden we use the natural environment to provide high quality, powerful learning, and developmental experiences to support individuals and communities to be resilient and successful. The centre holds Adventure Activities Licence Service Licence, Learning outside the Classroom Quality Badge and Adventure Mark to ensure our customers can be assured of the safety and quality of our service

What makes a stay at Crowden unique?
Were a small centre but we offer a lot to all of our guests. We are able to operate on a sole occupancy basis for all our visitors, enabling us to build a truly tailored program for each group. Essentially no two visits to Crowden are the same. Our experienced team build the program specifically to achieve the objective of each visit. This enables us to offer a wide range of services delivered by our highly experienced and knowledgeable team. All set in a beautiful location providing a tranquil setting.
What activities are available?
Rock climbing, cave exploration, kayaking, open water Canoeing, Raft building, Stream scrambling, Orienteering, Geo Cashing, Weaselling, Abseiling, Hill Walking, Bushcraft, Low ropes, Crate stack, Team challenges & Archery. Our instructors will liaise with you to ensure the activities meet the requirements of the visit and are delivered at a level that is appropriate for your group.
Can you also offer residential programs to target specific curriculum subjects?
Yes, that's one of the great things about Crowden's sole occupancy approach. We can build our programs around specific curriculum areas.
To support schools we have also put together some specific programs such as our Pre SATs maths booster program. This program incorporates, scale, fractions, area, mass, ratio, length, angles, number ordering and many other areas of the KS2 Maths curriculum while developing resilience through outdoor adventure learning. Students will take part in adventure activity while completing a range of tasks. Gathering evidential data along the way, this provides a powerful data set to be incorporated back in the classroom by giving context to the principles being taught.
We can also build programs around literacy, problem solving and topic work such as water and the environment as the Centre borders a Site of Special Scientific Interest at Upper Longdendale, Special Protection Area and Brockholes Wood Nature Reserve.

Crowden Outdoors Centre offer such a huge range of activities and learning outcomes, what are some of the most popular activities with schools?
By far the most popular activity at Crowden is Weaselling, If you have never tried it before there are thousands of our guests who would recommend it. We also have direct access from the centre to a number of stream scrambling locations.
Another popular activity is a hill day with the most popular option being to incorporate a visit to the crash site of "Over Exposed" the US air force B29 super fortress plane which crashed in 1948. Large parts of the aircraft now sits a memorial on the Bleaklow.
What accommodation do you offer?
Crowden has 40 beds spread across 14 bedrooms (including 4 single rooms), two main bathrooms and three further showers rooms, dining room, interconnected TV lounge and games room and a drying room. Accommodation is available with the option of full board, half board or self-catering.
If you are interested in hearing a bit more about how Crowden Outdoor Education Centre can help you with planning your next school visit then why not get in touch here.
Crowden Outdoor Education Centre
In the heart of the Peak District, Crowden Outdoor Educational Centre has been working with schools and youth groups since 1979. Creating bespoke outdoor learning opportunities and utilising the natural environment for a real adventure.
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