Staffing of activities

All the sessions on our timetable fall into one of two categories:

adventurous activities, which require leaders with national governing body awards, and whose leaders must be signed off by our technical experts. In most, but not all cases, instructors from Buckden House will be responsible for these sessions.
non-adventurous activities, which can be led by any adult who fulfills the criteria of the appropriate risk assessment. In this case activity leaders are inducted into the session and work within Buckden House' own risk assessment. The leaders for these activities are normally drawn from the staff accompanying the visiting group.

In both cases, all the sessions on the timetable fall within the control and responsibility of the Head of Centre. Also, every group leader, whether an instructor leading a group down a pothole, or a teacher supervising a group on our low ropes course, has the same right to care and support from Buckden House.

On all adventurous sessions, we require a member of staff from our guests to accompany the group. In this way we can achieve the optimum balance of safety and emotional care, as when the going gets tough there is always a familiar (friendly?) face around.

Many of our non-adventurous activities will benefit from the presence of two adult leaders although only in certain cases is this specifically required (local walks in poor weather, or for groups with special needs, for example).

For residential visits, our maximum activity group ratio is 12 students to 1 teacher or other accompanying adult from the school or college. Our recommendation is to allow three teachers per twenty students, if possible. These guidelines can be discussed further with the Head of Centre when planning your visit in detail.

Activities...

Select an activity for more information: