Planning Your Visit
A week's residential visit will contain a potential of eight activity sessions, each of a half-day (lasting from approximately 09.15 - 12.30, or 13.30 - 16.45, depending upon session, group, and prevailing conditions)
It is highly recommended that your planning is undertaken in conjunction with a visit to Buckden House. This allows detailed discussion at the stage of planning the programme of activities, as well as allowing less experienced or confident staff to see the venue in advance. It also makes planning of student placements in bedrooms easier, as the closeness to teachers and / or bathrooms becomes apparent.
Many of the self - led walks require visiting leaders to have walked the route before undertaking it with a group, and a planning visit combined with this makes for a fun and useful day out for a visiting group leader and staff team. Also, those risk assessments that group leaders are required to carry out - for their particular group in a given environment will be much more accurate when the venue has been seen.
The Head of Centre is also very happy to visit schools in the North of England, should parents or staff wish to talk to a member of Buckden House staff directly. In the past this has often been found to help allay concerns of parents when a school is making its first residential trip, or is visiting Buckden House for the first time. Such visits do need to be arranged well in advance.
Planning the activity programme...
A week's residential visit will contain a potential of eight activity sessions, each of a half-day (lasting from approximately 09.15 - 12.30, or 13.30 - 16.45, depending upon session, group, and prevailing conditions). Some activities are most suited to a half day duration, others benefit from a full day. A few may be sub-divided into shorter activity sessions. These are especially suited to the first and last half-days of the stay, when time also needs to be allowed for settling down or packing, and kit issue or kit return.
Buckden House instructors are available from 09.00 to 17.00, although extra evening sessions may be provided by prior arrangement. Our instructor to student ratio is 1 to 20, effectively giving one adventurous session, and one non-adventurous session, per group per day. Your choice of activities for your group should be based upon a 50/50 divide of each type of activity. For descriptions of the educational and experiential sessions that we offer, and the necessary staffing, see the activities section. If your chosen programme requires more instructors to provide a greater proportion of adventurous sessions, these may also be booked in advance following consultation with the Head of Centre.
What to expect...
Without the co-operation and dedication of our visiting staff, residential visits to Buckden House cannot work! We expect that visiting leaders will:
- work to support the ground rules of Buckden House
- maintain good group discipline, and provide pastoral care, at all times
- work within the safety guidelines and risk assessments provided by Buckden House for all timetabled activities
- co-operate with instructional staff and colleagues from other visiting schools to create a harmonious environment and smoothly-running programme
In return we can promise that you will:
- observe changes in group dynamics over the course of a residential visit
- see excellence in individuals where you did not expect it
- vastly increase your knowledge and understanding of all students in your care
- share experiences and challenges with your group, creating bonds that will translate to the classroom
Buckden House will take bookings throughout the year for:
- midweek and weekend activity courses for school and youth groups
- study breaks and seminars
- day visits for team building and adventurous activities
- skills training and guiding in caving and mountaineering
- house lets
Your arrival...
We ask that our visitors arrive at 10.30 (or as near as transit time allows) on Monday or Wednesday, or at 17.00 on Friday.
We can also accommodate small weekend groups from 12.00 am Friday.
We would ask our weekday visitors to book their return coaches for 13.00, and weekend visitors on who arrive on Friday night, to book their return coaches for 18.00 on Sunday.
More Information
Further information for planning your visit:
