At St William’s Primary School, we believe that trips and visits hugely enrich children’s education and add to their enjoyment of school. The excited faces of children as they line up to get on a bus is evidence of how much they look forward to these experiences. We pride ourselves on the wide range of visits and residential trips that we offer our children to enhance their learning at school. All our trips and visits are planned to help develop self-esteem, self-confidence and independence. They also give our children the opportunity to take part in engaging and exciting experiences in order to broaden their horizons and knowledge.
Am I eligible for help with trips?
If your household has a low income, (for example, you may be receiving benefits or on low wages), you may be eligible for a grant which could cover most of the cost of the trip from Anguish’s Educational Foundation. Contact them on 01603-621023 or e-mail: info@norwichcharitabletrusts.org.uk as soon as possible. We do not want money to be the reason any child misses a trip.
Our Residential Visits
Year 3 – Hautbois
Hautbois Activity Centre is an impressive 19th Century country house, set amidst 28 acres of beautiful countryside. Located on the edge of the Norfolk Broads, it also has a private cut onto the River Bure. Hautbois provide fun and exciting high quality learning outside the classroom. Their friendly, highly qualified staff work closely with teachers to ensure that the programme meets the group’s expectations and that the ethos of ‘learning by doing’ is embedded throughout. They have also been awarded the ‘Learning Outside the Classroom’ quality badge.
Children can take part in outdoor adventures that will enable them to develop, grow and learn in an informal, supportive way. It also helps to develop strong, trusting relationships across the year as well as in their classes. During the visit, children take part in a variety of activities including archery, crate stacking, katakana and low ropes.
Year 4 – How Hill
How Hill is situated in the heart of the Norfolk Broads National Park and provides a unique opportunity for children to experience this amazing and ecologically important area. They have an incredible site offering a variety of habitats for study, including dry and carr woodland, reedbed and grazing marsh, drainage dykes, the river Ant and Cromes Broad.
They have fantastic facilities including Freshwater Ecology Centre with a studio and laboratory; a beautiful thatched building on their private field for day visits and two boats for visiting Barton Broad, Turf Fen Mill and the marshes.
During the visit, children take part in a variety of activities including thatching, habitats, orienteering and investigating water quality which is linked to their project on the Norfolk Broads and always have an amazing time.
Year 5 – Bawdsey Manor
Our Year 5 residential trip for 2024-25 is to the beautiful Bawdsey Manor in Suffolk. For more information on this fabulous adventure centre, please follow the link below:
https://schoolsandgroups.pgl.co.uk/centres/bawdsey-manor
Year 6 – Castleton, Derbyshire
The Year 6 residential trip to Castleton in Derbyshire has been going for many years and is hugely successful due to the fantastic modern facilities available and the experience of the staff who have been consistently attending and know the trip extremely well.
The Lindley Trust, who run the Centre in Castleton, have over 40 years’ experience delivering outdoor education and have been approved and awarded the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge.
Year 6 visit in the Autumn term. The trip is an incredible experience and everyone leaves with fantastic memories. The centre is superb, the food is delicious and the instructors are knowledgeable and supportive. The children come away having experienced the stunning Derbyshire landscape, but also with improved confidence and self-belief. During the visit, children take part in some fantastic activities including canoeing, caving, rock climbing, hill walking, camp fires and visit some caves, to name just a few.
