The ‘Big School Trip’ competition was created by Isle of Wight-based company Education Destination, which specialises in providing bespoke, curriculum-focused school trips to the island.
Schools all over the UK were invited to participate by simply submitting a short, written explanation of why their class should win. Hundreds of schools downloaded the application form and were encouraged to explore Education Destination’s website which features more than 600 educational resources that are designed to revolutionise learning outside the classroom.
St Thomas’ Catholic Primary School in Canterbury, Kent were the winning school and recently visited the Isle of Wight on a school trip to remember worth more than £6,000. As part of the winning entry, St Thomas’s School created a fantastic piece of artwork that illustrated all of the activities on the prize trip itinerary. They then got to experience those venues as they visited many attractions across the island,including Dinosaur Isle, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, the Model Village, Godshill, Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary and Laser Storm @ JR Zone.
Amy King, the St Thomas' teacher who submitted the winning entry said:
“It’s been brilliant and the children are buzzing with enthusiasm. The prize on offer immediately captured my imagination as I considered how the thoroughly exciting and varied activities would so easily link to much of the curriculum that I am currently teaching. I know that this memorable trip will have a huge impact on the children’s future education and confidence as they deepen their friendships and learn to work as a team.”
Peter Tomlinson, CEO of Education Destination commented:
“We want to make the Isle of Wight the foremost place for educational school trips. It all works as a partnership with the venues, the accommodation providers and the ferries. We were bowled over by the creativity and high quality of the entries that we’ve received. It was a hard job to choose a winner, but Amy had taken the time to go through the trip itinerary, research the venues and read through lots of our online resources.”
In total 26 Year 3 students from St Thomas’ enjoyed the school trip which included ferry travel courtesy of Red Funnel and accommodation at East Dene, courtesy of Allnatt Outdoors.
More details of Education Destination can be found HERE.
