Our Year 5 students had a magical time. The snow (for a second year running!) meant that the scenery was fantastic and something a lot of our students had never witnessed. We were able to toast marshmallows as the snow fell in the evening, which felt like we were on an alpine retreat!
As well as that, students were able to take responsibility for making some of their own meals, make their own beds and socialise with peers that they may not normally get a chance to do.
J. Townend, Whetley Academy (February 2024)We have booked in again this year and are really looking forward to giving our students another unforgettable experience.
The Grinch may have had the wrong attitude towards Christmas, but he was spot on about one thing: it’s all about “feast, feast, feast, feast!” In true Grinchy spirt, Weelsby Academy celebrated Christmas 2023 at Dallowgill with plenty of food! On the first night, children made mince pies, brownies and sausage rolls!
J. Williams, Weelsby Academy (December 2023)Then, they had hot chocolates whilst watching a Christmas film. On the second day, children loved a Christmas breakfast, followed by opening Christmas presents that had been left by Santa underneath the Dallowgill Christmas tree. After breakfast, Children walked to Greygarth Monument. They ate 24 packets of crisp on the way, nearly lost a few wellies and a few children didn’t think that we would make it to the top – but everyone persevered and, of course, they made it! For the final meal, children enjoyed a Christmas dinner that they prepared themselves! Our Dallowgill Christmas 2023 was a huge success and we cannot wait to go to Dallowgill and celebrate Christmas again in 2024!
One pupil said, “I always thought the countryside was boring, but this is the best thing I’ve ever seen in my whole entire life (looking at the view from the top of the Greygarth monument)”. The pupil went onto say, ‘This is the best trip I’ve ever been on in my life at school”.
It was a place where our pupils got to relax their minds, be inspired by nature and deep dive onto the world of imagination – this resulted in amazing clay sculptures after our walk.
S. Qayyum, Southmere Primary (September 2023)It was a fantastic experience for our children, who absolutely thrived at Dallowgill.
The Dallowgill experience we delivered to Year 4 pupils at Southmere was transformative and enriching in ways we did not anticipate.
Many of our pupils attend school with impoverished life experiences, some rarely venture further away from inner city Bradford, and therefore the opportunity for them to visit River Laver and the surrounding forest at Dallowgill was an unmissable experience. Pupils applied their learning from classroom to this real-life setting and had plentiful hands-on experiences with geographical fieldwork and investigation.
S. Merrick, Southmere Primary (January 2023)It more than just enhanced our curriculum, it provided pupils with a chance to dip their wellied feet in a river, pick up scattered pine cones and have pooh stick races; things that were ‘firsts’ for the majority of these young people.