Courses Throughout the Year

The greatest demand is generally for courses in May, June and July, but we operate very successful courses at other times of the year, from early January to mid-December.

3-Day Courses

We offer 3-day courses as described on this website, but adapt these in different ways according to the time of year and the weather conditions. We have developed our facilities to be able to operate high-quality activity courses in virtually all weather conditions.

Courses in the Autumn term provide a great opportunity to develop teamwork for groups of children in a different environment at the start of the school year. The schools that regularly attend these courses tell us of how they reap the benefits of the Robinwood experience, throughout the rest of the school year. Teachers have the opportunity to stand back and see the way that children respond and develop throughout their stay, whilst the children are instructed by their group leader and other Robinwood staff. In the late Autumn as the nights draw in we still operate a full activity programme. We have floodlighting in many activity areas so that these activities can continue in the late afternoon and evening. We also have many indoor facilities, available for use.

Robinwood courses run through December, January and February and although the weather can be lovely, these courses generally provide the most challenging weather conditions we experience. We are able to adapt our programme in a variety of ways according to the needs of the group and the weather conditions experienced. Courses at this time of year see the biggest benefit from the extensive indoor provision at each centre. Many outdoor activities also have areas under shelter.

We can either adapt watersports sessions or schedule an alternative activity. Open canoeing can take place with the canoes rafted up together, which is still a fun session but means that we are virtually certain that children won’t fall in. Raft Building is replaced with an alternative indoor session.

Price variations throughout the year

Many schools, when they make their initial enquiry for a course at Robinwood, want to bring their year 6 after SATS. We can understand why and we do have a great course for year 6 groups to experience, just before they move on to secondary school, but these are generally the most expensive courses with Wednesday to Friday course prices up to £333 per child in June 2023. The same high quality courses are available on a selection of dates, including weekday term time dates, during 2023 for under £200 per child.

Getting kitted out for poor weather conditions

Robinwood Group Leaders take care to ensure that children are always correctly kitted out for the weather conditions. Although we will give the children a level of responsibility to prepare for each activity themselves, we always get the group together before they start a session to ensure they are properly kitted out. We check the number of layers worn and the thickness of layers worn and ensure children have suitable waterproof and windproof outer layers. As long as the children are properly dressed for the conditions, they can have a great time and it is often more of a real outdoor adventure if the weather is challenging.

Robinwood provides a lot of extra clothing available for all children to supplement the clothing each child brings themselves. We supply hard-wearing waterproof cagoules and waterproof over-trousers; we also supply thick fleece tops, extra wellies, fleece mittens and a variety of other warm kit for use as needed. Although activities can successfully take place as described in poor weather conditions, if the weather is ‘severe’ we always err on the side of caution and offer alternatives inside.

Activities at Robinwood

We typically have 15 high-quality activity sessions packed into three days. Some sessions differ from centre to centre, but all centres run a similar programme, focussed on key stage two. There are some variations according to the time of year.

What Schools Say About Robinwood

We really appreciate all the recommendations we get from schools who have visited Robinwood and the number of schools who come for the first time as a result of recommendations from friends and colleagues. We are constantly updating the comments from schools who have recently attended a Robinwood course. The schools that attend come from areas of the Midlands, throughout the North of England and up into Scotland. But don’t just take our word for it, See what they have to say about Robinwood. For more testimonials and recommendations visit our Highly Recommended Page.