Experience Planner
The academy believes that a student's experiences are part of his or her broader education. Trips and events provide cultural capital, expose students to new experiences and perspectives and encourage confidence and a sense of belonging. Of course, they should also be stimulating, fun, and engaging and some trips and events are directly related to the curriculum and the subjects that students are learning about.
On this page, we list for the consideration of students, parents, and carers the trips and events we have arranged or intend to arrange. Some of these experiences are in the planning stage, others have dates and approximate costs and some have confirmed details already. All trips are subject to confirmation by the Board of Governors and details may change.
Allocation of places on a trip
- The general rule is that a place will be allocated on the trip on completion of the 'expression of interest' form linked to the table below - in other words on a first come first served basis based on expression of interest.
- The academy will never allocate places on the basis of first come first served on the basis of payment of a deposit since we believe that this is a disadvantage to those parents who will want to work out budgets and cash flow before committing.
- On occasion, the academy may allocate a small number of places to students who have not had the chance to attend a previous trip or experience or who have won a place due to a reward or in the opinion of the Principal who would particularly benefit from a place
- On occasion, it may be necessary to allocate places to ensure representation of student groups; for example to ensure that there is an appropriate split of girls and boys where this is necessary to satisfy trip requirements or adequate supervision; occasionally external funding for trips depends upon representation of certain groups of students - for example, the academy may receive external funding for a trip provided that a certain number of students study a certain subject.
Please be advised that our students are particularly enthusiastic about trips and experiences and so parents should not delay in expressing an interest when the academy opens the trip link. Parents are free to change their minds after requesting a place but before the commitment date. After the commitment date, the academy has to pay for the trip as a whole, and therefore it may be difficult for the academy to repay parents and carers who subsequently withdraw a student.
Limited financial assistance may be available at the discretion of the Principal but parents and carers who think they may want to ask for financial assistance should not delay in following the link to register their expression of interest.
Please note that trips may have early starts or late finishes and that attendance at the academy on the academy day following a late return from a trip is compulsory. Failure to attend the academy on the day after a trip due to tiredness caused by the trip will be registered as an unauthorised absence - the academy reserves the right to remove the student from future trips.