Secondary School Trip Ideas

Secondary school trips to boost academic performance

Higher engagement in class

Secondary school trips have many academic benefits. They can bring subjects to life, sparking a real interest and curiosity in the students and leading to higher engagement back in the classroom. And higher engagement in the classroom can help students to achieve higher grades in their exams.

Plus, by bringing your subject to life and sparking their interest in it, you could persuade more students to take up your subject at GCSE and A-level.

Practical experience of the subject

Secondary school trips also help to provide students with practical experiences that they can draw upon in their exams, helping them to achieve those higher grades. So, school trips for secondary students really can help them to achieve more in their exams.

If you are looking to give your students a pre-exam boost, you might want to consider a school trip that will help them to grasp a particularly difficult topic.

For example, if you’re a geography teacher, perhaps you want your students to develop their understanding of plate tectonics – in which case, a school trip to a destination such as Iceland, the Azores or Naples and Sorrento might be the right choice for you.

And if you’re a history teacher, perhaps you really want your students to deepen their understanding of the political, social and economic contexts in which Hitler and the Nazis rose to power in Germany in the 1930s – in this case, a school trip to Munich or

Berlin would work really well.

Increase confidence and revise key skills

Alternatively, you might prefer to visit a destination that allows your students to cover a range in topics, giving them more of a general lift ahead of their exams by increasing their confidence and revising key skills and knowledge.

Students studying French, German or Spanish, for example, could visit almost anywhere in France, Germany or Spain and the opportunity to explore the culture through their language skills would give them a huge boost in confidence.

And many of our destinations also offer the opportunity to add lessons in closed groups at a specialist language school, which can be as general or specific as you need them to be to meet your learning objectives.

Not sure what secondary school trip would best suit your learning objectives?

We have curriculum links on all our trip pages to help you see what can be covered. And please don’t hesitate to contact our school travel experts who will be very pleased to help.

Secondary school trips to boost personal development

Promote independence and interpersonal skills

For many students, a secondary school trip abroad could be the first time they’ve been abroad without their parents. This experience will promote independence, as they must take responsibility for themselves.

And school trips for secondary students can help them to boost their

interpersonal skills, as they’ll meet new people from other cultures, and develop their relationships with the other students and the accompanying staff, which can help to create a better learning environment once you’re back in the classroom.

If you want to run a secondary school trip that helps to promote independence and interpersonal skills, and encourages better relationships between students and their teachers, then one of our school residentials could be ideal for you.

Your students could have a go at a variety of water sports, such as kayaking, raft building and stand up paddle boarding in the Lake District, at the former Olympic canoeing venue in Lee Valley, or at the National Water Sports Centre in Holme Pierrepont near Nottingham.

Or you could head to the West Midlands, where you can explore Warwick Castle, have a go at skiing or snowboarding, tackle some teambuilding activities at Conkers or get the adrenaline pumping at Alton Towers!

Improve their understanding of the world around them

Another important benefit of secondary school trips that really can’t be overstated is that they help students to better understand the wider world around them. They provide students with the opportunity to experience other cultures and try new things, and this can make them more empathetic and better global citizens.

We offer a great variety of cultural school trips designed to provide your secondary students with these formative cultural experiences. Just as with all our secondary school trips, whether you choose to explore buzzing Barcelona, dazzling Dubai or spectacular Sri Lanka, we’ll tailor your itinerary to suit your specific requirements and learning objectives.

And if you want your students to spend their secondary school trip learning about the issues affecting people and the environment in your destination and, crucially, have them take part in voluntary work to help, then our expeditions are ideal.

Head to India, where your students can teach in a local school or help out at a café run by burns victims. Or visit Borneo, where they can support the work being done to protect orangutans. Whatever you choose to do, this is an experience that will stay with your students forever.