Coach Hire for School Trips, Coach Hire for Educational Visits
Use our contact form for quotations for bus or coach hire for college and school trips in Norfolk and East Anglia. Or call Richard Hipkiss on 01692 580383.
School Trips and Educational Visits have long been part of the school curriculum. Our local High School offers opportunities to all students through a range of activities: inter-school competitions, history days, field trips, visits abroad, theatre visits, and more. Neaves Coaches have long been involved in providing coach hire for school trips, coach hire for school tours and coach hire for educational visits for Norfolk schools and colleges in both maintained and independent sectors. And our fair and competitive prices ensure good value.
Benefits of School Outings. There is broad agreement that school trips and educational visits are highly beneficial to children and that they can have a lasting impact on their personal development. Research by the National Trust shows that “high quality, out of classroom learning influences how children behave and the life choices they make” and that school trips show potential “not just to change individual lives but the lives of whole communities”. That said, school trips are also fun. Children look forward to their school trips and enjoy them enormously.
Decline in School Trips and Educational Visits. It appears however that nationally there has been a significant decline in opportunities for children to enjoy school outings and for learning outside the classroom. Natural England found that the likelihood of a child visiting a green space had halved in a generation and the Countryside Alliance found that less than 50% of children had been into the countryside in the past year.
Reasons for the Decline in School Outings. Several reasons have been offered for the national decline in school trips and educational visits including excessive paperwork, modular exams and decline in funding. Fears have also been expressed for health and safety of school trips although these are not shared by the Health and Safety Executive which “firmly believes that children must have the opportunity to participate in adventurous activities…”
Educational Visits and School Trips in Norfolk. In contrast to the national decline in school trips and tours, Norfolk County Council (NCC) affirms that children are not missing out on school outings In Norfolk and that there has indeed been an increase in the number of school visits in Norfolk in recent years. The NCC attributes the improvement in frequency of school trips and school tours to improved support.
Support for Educational Visits in Norfolk. In April 2011 the NCC adopted a new online service known as ‘Evolve’ which was specifically designed to enable the efficient processing of proposals by Norfolk schools and colleges for educational visits. The NCC also offers teachers training courses in educational visits and in learning outside the classroom. In addition, Government guidance has been reduced from 150 pages to eight in order to provide a “more common sense approach to health & safety”.
Residential School Visits in Norfolk. There are several Outdoor Education Centres (OEC) in Norfolk which provide high quality residential field studies and outdoor learning experiences for children and young people: Holt Hall, Hilltop, Whitlingham and West Runton.
An official guide for educational visits in Norfolk and the other counties of the East of England is www.visiteastofengland.com. This website identifies a wide range of attractions suitable for group travel and educational visits by schools and colleges of further education, and provides informative guides and identifies key themes in the region.
Terms of Business. Please find link to Terms page.
Use our contact form for minibus or coach hire for educational visits and school trips in Norfolk, East Anglia, to London or elsewhere in the UK. Or call Richard Hipkiss on 01692 580383.