Course Benefits
Residential Outdoor Pursuits

Education outside the classroom

Manor Adventure helps to provide life skills by providing challenging, rewarding and stimulating courses. Over the years, pupils attending our outdoor pursuits courses have benefited from the following life skills:


Inner confidence and personal achievement

Our aim is for each child to grow six inches in confidence before they leave our centre!! Children are challenged with new and different tasks, but with the skill of the instructors and with the support of their school friends, find they are capable of achieving much more than they thought. Our outdoor pursuits courses are designed to challenge children in such a way that each goal is achievable regardless of the ability of each individual. By completing perceived difficult outdoor pursuits, each child develops self confidence, a positive attitude to new challenges, and becomes more respected by their school colleagues. Over their stay at Manor Adventure the self-esteem of each child grows and grows.


Listening & Communication Skills

Many of the activities which take place at Manor Adventure require children to listen carefully to instructions and to communicate with their colleagues. In many cases, children have to justify their reasoning to their peers.


Social Skills

By being taken out of their comfort zone and having to do new activities and tasks participants quickly learn to respect their instructors and peers. Children live, sleep, eat and do activities together, which is especially important in developing social skills.


Team Building

Our courses teache children how to work together and reiterate how much more can be achieved as a member of a team. We help build positive relationships within the school group and between the teachers and their pupils. Many schools use Manor Adventure to develop team bonding, especially at the start of the academic year.


Develop New Skills

The great benefits that outdoor pursuits bring is that they are fun and very different to what takes place at home or at school. Each child develops new skills which may lead to an interest in the future. Children learn that sports do differ from just the team sports taught in schools such as football, rugby, hockey, netball and cricket. Children who lack the necessary coordination in ball sports often excel at other activities once they have been given the opportunity. Life and education is about giving children the opportunity to find their forte and fulfil their potential.


Leadership Skills

Our courses help develop leadership skills in all children, not just the more confident child.


Problem solving

The activities and challenges are fun and different. Everybody learns more when they enjoy doing the tasks. An important part of our courses is problem solving, which under the guidance of our excellent instructors; challenges, motivates and tests each group. We make children think from a completely different perspective than is required in the classroom.


Responsibility

Children are given a certain amount of individual responsibility such as organising themselves to meet at the right times for activity sessions and mealtimes. (One of the main reasons Manor Adventure does not employ "Groupies".) Children also develop team responsibility - learning that they form an important part of a team and that their contribution matters.


Accommodation

Manor Adventure probably offers the highest standard available in the school market. All our children's bedrooms are en suite (with the exception of one bedroom in Shropshire). All our dormitories, bathrooms and teachers' rooms are refurbished on a regular basis.


Directors on site

Our directors are based on site to assist our centre management teams if needed. Also, by being hands-on, the directors benefit from an awareness of the continual changes being placed on Party Leaders.


Special needs

Manor Adventure in Shropshire caters for a number of Special Needs children/schools each year. In 2005 Valley View, a specially adapted accommodation block, was completed for wheelchair guests. The requirements of each school are unique, so it is highly recommended that Party Leaders visit our centre to discuss the suitability of our infrastructure and the type of course we can offer.


Teacher benefits

From a teaching point of view, our courses allow teachers to see their pupils in a different light and to monitor how each child copes in a different environment. It provides an opportunity to really get to know their pupils better, and possibly help find aspects which may help motivate certain individuals on their return to the classroom.


Teacher Support

It is crucial that teachers are well supported by our Centre Staff, who are always on hand to help and provide assistance 24 hours per day throughout the school's stay. We also believe that good quality accommodation is important for teachers who are giving up their free time for the benefit of their pupils.

Additionally, we look after the children on all on site activities, giving teachers the freedom to do some of their own tasks during session time or see how other groups with their school are getting on.


Managing risk

Children learn about assessing and managing risk under the guidance of the Manor Adventure instructors.


Motivation

Many of our schools find that children return to school highly motivated by their experiences at Manor Adventure. Whilst at our centres each child is challenged, stretched and encouraged to achieve whilst in a safe caring environment which contributes to their personal and academic growth.