Adventures away for 10k disadvantaged young people

Action

Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre, UK Youth’s outdoor learning venue in the New Forest offers educational visits, family breaks and days out, featuring activities such as archery, bushcraft, canoeing, climbing, abseiling, high ropes, orienteering and mountain biking.

Last year, UK Youth was selected as the delivery partner for the second phase of the £1.5m Adventures Away from Home Fund. The fund, delivered by UK Youth in partnership with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), aims to provide more than 10,000 young people, aged 11 to 18 – or up to 25 for those with special educational needs or disabilities – with bursaries for outdoor learning.

It is designed to allow under-represented young people to take part in experiences of full-day or two-night duration and that utilise the natural environment to support their personal development.

Using the charity’s Experience, Learn, Develop model as a framework for delivery, UK Youth will ensure programmes are accessible, support personal wellbeing and development, and create positive connections to nature and physical literacy. UK Youth provides a structure while allowing organisations to personalise delivery to meet the needs of young people.

As part of the first phase of the Fund in 2022/23, the DCMS provided £600,000 to support UK Youth to work with 45 outdoor learning providers, enabling 3,500 young people to engage in outdoor learning across England.

Impact

Analysis of the first phase of the fund delivered positive outcomes in terms of increasing access to valuable outdoor learning for young people with significant access needs and facing inclusion barriers. This has included improving their skills for life and work through building confidence and improving their mental wellbeing.

The analysis shows a third of the youth groups in Adventures Away from Home had never experienced outdoor learning before. Nine out of 10 youth group leaders reported enhanced confidence, self-reliance and independence and increased happiness amongst the young people they were supporting to attend, over 80 per cent stated developing more trusted relationships with young people, increased confidence in their roles and abilities and feeling greater pride in their role, and 98 per cent stated their experience as “excellent” or “very good”.