Wonder of outdoor activities must reach all young people

Long ago, when I was inspected by HMI (now Ofsted), a lead inspector told me that the common thread among all the young people she had talked to was their positive experience of residentials. I used to do at least half a dozen a year, sometimes more than 10.

The very first weekend away I ever did was as a volunteer with something called the Family Service Unit, a social services charity in inner-city Birmingham. I was allocated two scraggy little kids - Billy and Harry, strangely - to look after. I went to collect them from their impoverished home, sat with them in the minibus and kept an eye on them throughout, obviously getting more involved when they were swinging on ropes or messing around in a paddling pool. Neither had ever been out of the city before and their observations - of live animals, no houses, streams and hills, peace and quiet (despite their own noise) - were wondrous.