Trips, Visits and Visitors 

At Gleadless, we are proud of the wide and varying opportunities we provide for our children.

Each year, we enhance our curriculum offer with educational trips, visit and/or visitors into school. We believe these offer a wealth of benefits for children, enhancing their learning experiences, social skills and personal development.

These opportunities allow children to explore the world beyond the classroom; to gain first hand learning experiences linked to the curriculum; to engage in hands-on learning opportunities and to apply classroom knowledge in real-world settings, fostering a deeper understanding of subjects, and to improve social skills through collaboration and interaction with peers, teachers and the wider community. 

Residentials

We proudly offer our children three residential opportunities across their time at Gleadless. We see children grow in confidence and competence during these special events and they provide an excellent opportunity to develop our Gleadless core values.

Whirlow Farm - Year 2

In Year 2, children have the opportunity to visit Whirlow Farm for an overnight stay. This is often children's first stay away from home, which requires determination, care and self-belief. Every year, we see the children grow in confidence, gain independence and develop social skills.

Here, children explore the rural side of Sheffield, comparing first-hand how this geographical area and the life of those living there differs to Sheffield city centre, which the children study in Geography earlier in the year. 

Children take on active roles in running the farm, feeding, grooming and caring for the animals. Children also take to the trails and explore the countryside around the farm and beyond. 

Castleton - Year 4

In Year 4, children have the opportunity to visit Castleton for an overnight stay.

This residential is linked to our Year 4 Geography curriculum, where children develop their understanding of place by looking at a nearby county and its physical and human characteristics. This builds on their learning from KS1, where they explored Sheffield. 

Children get the opportunity to observe, measure and record physical and human features of the area, and will complete both people and traffic surveys. 

Children also search for fossils around the walls of Castleton, participate in gem panning and take part in a Roman battle reenactment, linking to their History learning. 

Thornbridge - Year 6

In Year 6, children have the opportunity to visit Thornbridge Outdoors for a two night stay.

The mission of Thornbridge is to widen the horizons of young people through real outdoor adventures in the Peak District.

This is achieved by children:

• Increasing their awareness of and building on their own strengths.
• Improving their relationships with peers and accompanying adults.
• Discovering outdoor activities and the different opportunities available.
• Learning about the Peak District and how to access it.
• Developing team building and leadership skills.
• Building resilience.

Children participate in a range of experiences which put our Gleadless values to the test: we are determined, we are a team, we have self-belief, we are respectful, we care and we have a voice. 

These include:

• The high ropes and cargo net
• Weaseling (crawling in-between / under / over and sometimes through boulders)
• Cycling skills and a cycle ride along the Monsal trail
• Nightline 
• Campfire