The winners of the first School Travel Awards have been unveiled.
The winners were announced at the School Travel Awards ceremony, which took place at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, London on Thursday 10th November.
The School Travel Awards recognise the best attractions, destinations, companies and practitioners in the field of educational travel and learning outside the classroom (LOtC).
The awards ceremony was co-hosted by renowned television presenter Fiona Bruce and proceeded by a five-star lunch.
17 accolades were handed out in total at the ceremony. Amongst the winners were The Tesco Eat Happy Project who took home the award for Best Food & Learning Experience, and Shakespeare’s Globe, which took the trophy for Best Venue for English Learning.
Two of the 17 awards recognised best practice within schools. Chris Jesson, head of Geography at Gravesend Grammar School in Kent, was presented with the School Trip Champion Award, designed to acknowledge the hard work of an individual who goes the extra mile when it comes to getting children learning away from the classroom.
Chris commented: “I’m pretty overwhelemed. I was not expecting to win at all. We go to Iceland every year for Geography, but after winning the prize money for the school, I think we will consider going a bit further.”
Kirk Ella St Andrew’s Community Primary in Yorkshire, meanwhile, collected the My Best School Trip award.
Teacher, Ian Wood entered his Key Stage Two class into the running for the award when entries were being taken back in the summer. He got his class to write about their experiences of a residential to Eskdale Youth Hostel and provided his own commentary on how the trip benefited pupils. It struck a chord with the judging panel which was impressed with the way the trip was fully-led by school staff, how inclusive the trip was, and much evaluation took place afterwards.
Ian said: “We were excited just to be here. To be in the final five was astounding. We do our trip to Eskdale every year. We’ve always known it was a special trip but this award is amazing. This is an award for the whole country, not just for our school, and for all the teachers who are taking their pupils out to experience learning outside the classroom.”
The 2016/17 categories and winners are as follows…
Best Heritage Venue: NCCL The Royal Courts of Justice, London
Best Sporting Venue: Manchester United Museum & Stadium Tour
Best Theatre Production for Schools: Wicked
Best International Destination or Attraction: Disneyland Paris
Best UK Destination or Attraction: LEGOLAND Windsor Resort
Best Ski Resort: Zell am See, Austria
Best Museum Visit: Black Country Living Museum, Dudley
Best Food & Learning Experience: The Tesco Eat Happy Project
Best Adventure Experience: PGL
Best Venue for Science Learning: SEALIFE Centres
Best Venue for Maths Learning: Bletchley Park
Best Venue for English Learning: Shakespeare’s Globe, London
Best Venue for History Learning: Galleries of Justice Museum, Nottingham
Best School Tour Operator: WST
Best Residential Experience: Kingswood
School Trip Champion Award: Chris Jesson, head of Geography at Gravesend Grammar School in Kent
My Best School Trip Award: Kirk Ella St Andrew’s Community Primary in Yorkshire’s trip to Eskdale Youth Hostel led by Ian Wood
For more information about the School Travel Awards visit www.schooltravelorganiser.com/awards.
