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Disadvantaged children are missing out on residential trips

From personal development and team-building skills, to encouraging a sense of adventure and enhancing subject knowledge, residential trips can bring a wealth of benefits to children and young people. But a new report has found that millions of pupils are missing out on the chance to experience trips away from school.

The study, conducted by education think-tank LKMco, revealed that only one in five of secondary and primary pupils go on residential trips each year – and that youngsters in disadvantaged areas have the fewest opportunities to take part. This is partly due to cost and partly due to the fact that they are more likely to live in areas where fewer residential trips are available.

The research, funded by campaigning group Learning Away and published last month, discovered that educational establishments organise an average of 2.5 residential trips per year, with approximately 1.8 million children and young people taking part.

“This is equivalent to 21 per cent of the school population,” said the report’s authors. “While this probably means that in most schools, at least some pupils are involved in a residential each year, it also means that every year, a large number of pupils do not experience a residential. Unfortunately, we find that it is pupils in disadvantaged areas who have fewest opportunities to participate.”

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