Activities and Partnerships
Duke of Edinburgh
BWS is a licensed Duke of Edinburgh Centre and currently runs Bronze, Silver and Gold programmes for years 9, 10 and 12 respectively. We have a long running and successful partnership with Paul Webb and his company H5 Adventure for these programmes and benefit hugely from the expertise and experience that Paul and his team provide. The expeditions themselves take place with various routes within the settings of the Marlborough Downs for Bronze, The New Forest for Silver and finally the Brecon Beacons for the Gold award. All expeditions are supported by a team of staff from the school who also have ownership of the online and in-house logistical aspects. Paul and his team also deliver the Team Building event for each Year 7 cohort and the survival night for Year 8, the former based at Britford lane and the latter at the Lake – home of H5 Adventure.
https://www.h5adventure.com/
https://www.dofe.org/
Great Yews
The Longford Estate, managed by David Canty is also a key partner in our delivery of Adventure based activity. The Great Yews campsite is part of the estate and is the host venue for the end of Year 7 camp – a tradition stretching back to the very first cohort at BWS over 130 Years ago. The basics of the event itself revolve around a hike from school, followed by an overnight camp with varied activities across both evening and morning before a return hike to school the following day.
https://www.longfordestates.co.uk/
Pencelli
Plas Pencelli in Brecon is a Wiltshire Council linked Outdoor Education centre which we have shared a link with for many years. Peter Blackburn and his team run our Year 9 residential trips with qualified instructors to lead a varied and challenging programme across five days, including climbing, canoeing, caving and mountain biking in the summer programme. We have recently introduced the winter programme which follows exactly the same format, but runs with different activities including a mountain walk on Pen-Y-Fan and presents a much different set of environmental challenges for the boys to deal with. All the equipment is provided throughout and the evening sessions provide opportunity to reflect on the experiences from the day but also engage in the extended programme including problem solving and orienteering. The centre also runs the Lowland Leader training scheme amongst other specific activity courses that our students could take up in their own spare time, as well as advertising an Outdoor Instructors internship position that the boys might consider later on in life.
http://www.plaspencelli.co.uk/
Ten Tors
Ten Tors is an annual arduous walking event that takes place every year on Dartmoor during the weekend following the May public holiday. Teams navigate routes of 35, 45 or 55 miles (depending on age), being self-sufficient, carrying all that they need to complete their route and stay out overnight safely. Adam Bate has partnered with BWS Adventure to provide the qualified instruction, co-ordinating and delivering the training for members of Years 10 and 12 who want to compete in the event. Through a series of local and weekend activities on Dartmoor, Adam focuses on building resilience across the teams to foster a robust and competitive approach.
https://www.tentors.org.uk/
