In addition to the many day trips to visit exhibitions, museums and places of geographical and historical interest, residential field trips form an important part of the Hall School Wimbledon curriculum from Year 4 upwards.

All field trips are led by the Headmaster and provide a great opportunity for him to get to know the children. Hall School Wimbledon field trips are designed to inspire and excite the children and offer an educational experience beyond the classroom.

The first field trip takes our Year 4 children to Pevensey in Sussex for two nights. The children learn how to pitch a tent and, together with the staff, they camp in a field next to Pevensey Castle. During the trip, the children will visit a farm and feed the goats, walk along the cliffs, swim in the sea and collect fossils.

The children enjoy the culinary expertise of the Headmaster and assist in the preparation of all meals. They will also be introduced to his specialty breakfast of ‘eggy bread and bacon’, which has become a ‘Hall School Wimbledon highlight’ of all field trips!

In Year 5, the children return to Sussex for a four-night camping trip. Each summer, we choose from a range of activities according to the weather. These may include the Herstmonceux Science Centre, the River Cuckmere and Drusilla’s Zoo Park. There should also be opportunities to visit the beach, to cycle in Friston Forest, and, subject to tide times, to collect fossils at Falling Sands.

In their final year at the Junior School, the Year 6 children spend four nights in Wales, staying in a traditional Bunkhouse in the National Park of the Brecon Beacons. The children visit Big Pit, a real coal mine and one of Britain’s leading mining museums, and they learn to climb and abseil with qualified instructors at Llangorse Outdoor Activity Centre and Indoor Climbing Centre.

Field trips achieve many things. They are always looked forward to by the children and then reflected upon enthusiastically in the weeks that follow. If a child discovers a fact for him or herself then it will be more memorable and better remembered.

Children that are less comfortable in the classroom can thrive in the outdoors. A child that struggles in Mathematics is often the one most able to catch and liberate spiders from the tent. Through working and living together, sharing tents and challenges, facing fears and celebrating accomplishments, our children develop an unrivalled esprit de corps that lasts long after they leave the school.