Why choose the Isle of Wight for a primary school residential trip?

A Bit of Background

For those who are unsure, the Isle of Wight is a small island and designated UNESCO Biosphere located just a few miles off the south coast of the UK. It's the largest island in the English Channel known for stunning scenery, mild climate, and wide variety of activities. The island has been welcoming tourists for hundreds of years whose numbers increased dramatically in Victorian times and continues today with many thousands of bed spaces in hotels, campsites, chalets, caravans, glamping pods, hostels etc. right across the island.

It is reached via one of six fast and frequent ferry services (three vehicle-carrying) including the only commercial hovercraft operation in Europe. These routes land at Portsmouth - ideal for London and the South East visitors, Southampton - perfect for the midlands and those travelling from the north, and Lymington - handy for those travelling from Devon, Somerset and the west country.

A Great School Trip Destination

The Island makes an ideal school trip destination due to its relatively small size - it's barely 20 miles wide and 13 miles tall at its extremeties - minimising the amount of travelling. With literally hundreds of visitor attractions and educational opportunities dotted around the Island, the amount of time sitting on a coach is greatly minimised.

With thousands of bed spaces available, travelling outside the main summer visitor peak season means there's a plethora of competitively-priced accommodation choices, from exclusive use hotels and guest houses, to various camping/glamping options, hostels, chalets and lodges, and more.

• an overseas adventure without the hassle of airports, border crossings, passports, currency, language issues...
• an hour from London then a short ferry crossing means you're here in no time - relaxed journeys and sensible departure / return times
• mild and predictable climate - warm and dry throughout spring, summer and autumn, and lots of indoor activities for the occasional wet day
• outstanding hospitality - a wide choice of accommodation choices usually within a stone's throw of a gorgeous beach, with experienced, welcoming hosts
• massive choice of activities - many FREE or low cost - such as themed adventure parks, watersports, animal attractions, museums and historic buildings, natural wonders, sporting, transport and dozens of awesome beaches!
• incredible range of learning resources - more than 750 curriculum-relevant packs to choose from, designed by local teachers with an intimate knowledge of the area and the National Curricilum
• world-famous visitor attractions - big hitters include Queen Victoria's Osborne House, Charles I's Carisbrooke Castle, the Needles, Blackgang Chine, Alum Bay and various dinosaur fossil sites which are amongst the best in Europe
• ideal for all ages - from a KS1 first night away to a KS5 adventurous activities week - the Isle of Wight excels
• great value - shoulder season discounts on accommodation and meals, group rates at visitor attractions, wide choice of free or low-cost activities and plenty of beaches and public access spaces to make your own memories

Want Expert Guidance?

Since 2014, Education Destination have been welcoming thousands of students each year on bonding and teambuilding trips, field study trips, end-of-year reward / farewell visits and more.

Unlike most travel companies offering Isle of Wight packages, we're actually based on the Isle of Wight with offices smack in the middle of the island at Rookley meaning that we're on hand to deal with any unlikely issues. By booking with Education Destination, you'll just have one contact to deal with and we will arrange everything for you so you can just rock up and enjoy your visit. All that's left for you to do is handle the permissions paperwork (we can help with sample risk assessments etc.) and collect the money from parents!

We'll work with you to put together the perfect package to suit your trip objectives and budget, then take care of booking everything on your behalf. We'll settle all invoices with the various suppliers for you, and you'll have full online access to all aspects of the trip throughout the booking, visit and post-visit process. We've worked very hard over the past years to streamline the whole process to make it simple for teachers to choose the Isle of Wight.

Hit the Quote button and we'll arrange an obligation-free proposal for your next residential. We think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Download:

Download Education Destination's current Isle of Wight school trips brochure

Education Destination offers bespoke school residential trips to the Isle of Wight throughout the year, for academic as well as social learning. Download our current brochure to find details of accommodation, transport and the vast range of activities and visitor attractions on offer.

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