Follow and develop your passions
See the wider picture beyond School
Take your subjects out of the classroom
Discover and explore other sides of yourself
Appreciate new perspectives on the world
Understand your place in history
Consider your future self
Embrace challenge and step out of your comfort zone
Give your curiosity free rein
The School is delighted to offer 16 residential trips in 2023-2024, providing diverse experiences to suit a range of age-groups, outcomes, and interests, and these complement a range of exciting non-residential trips for all year-groups. There will be a trip focused on sustainability for Years 7 and 8, a cultural exploration of Berlin for older students, a ski trip to Austria, a Project 125 trip to Moldova with a philanthropic aim, a Netball tour of South Africa, and a Sixth Form residential creative writing trip to the Isle of Sheppey.
In addition to those outlined above, there will be residential trips for Years 7-10 and 12 in the days preceding October half-term. These are designed to help build year-group cohesion out of the school environment, providing a bonding experience in those cohorts where new students join established groups each year. For this reason, the expectation is that all students will attend. In response to parental feedback from previous years, the focus of the majority of these trips is more cultural, rather than outward-bound.
For Years 11 and 13, these days will be spent at Roedean, and will have a more specific focus on the next stage of the students’ education, looking at life after School, and the Sixth Form experience.
For some of these trips, the costs are informed estimates, to help with planning and budgeting for those taking part. As far as possible, the costs will be as indicated, but this is sometimes out of our control – post-Covid experience has taught us that costs for travel have been increasing, so, to mitigate this, some estimates may be slightly higher and we will confirm actual costs in due course. Some of these trips will require early deposits to confirm the cost, and the School will be in touch in these cases.
It will be possible to spread the payment for trips across 3 terms, and families which receive mean-tested support may apply for financial support for trips.
If your daughter is keen to go on one or more of these trips, please complete this form Residential Trips 2023-24, which will allow you to indicate which are of interest, as well as ranking them in order of preference.
It may be that some specific trips are over-subscribed, in which case the School will prioritise certain students: for example, for trips with an academic focus, those students studying the subject or intending to continue with it in the following year will be prioritised; for other trips, those who do not already have a place on a trip will be given priority over those who do; and older students with fewer opportunities over the coming years may also be given priority.
If your daughter requires a visa to travel on an international trip, it is the responsibility of parents or guardians to secure the necessary documentation. In the unlikely event that this cannot be secured in good time, it may not be possible to refund the costs of the trip.
The School is keen to make trips as sustainable as possible, but some emissions from travel are unavoidable. We are currently exploring different options, including funding hedge-planting projects with the South Downs National Park Trust, to off-set the trips’ carbon footprint.
All Geography GCSE students nationally are required to complete two days of compulsory fieldwork outside the classroom, and they are examined on general fieldwork skills and specifically on their own field investigations in Paper 3.
This trip to the Calshot Centre, a nationally renowned centre, located on the spit at the mouth of Southampton Water estuary covers the development of general fieldwork skills. Students will also partake in a range of exciting activities, including archery, rock climbing, ringoing, and skiing.
Year Groups 11
Number of Places Available 75
Who Will Be Given Priority?
Year 11 Geography students
Dates 22-24 September 2023
Costs £300
Year 7 will experience a cross-curricular cultural tour of the beautiful Opal Coast. Highlights will include Nausicaa National Sea Centre, and visiting traditional cheese and biscuit makers. This is an opportunity for the new year group to get to know each other and gel in a relaxed yet educational setting.
Year Groups 7
Number of Places Available All
Who Will Be Given Priority? N/A
Dates 16-17 October 2023
Costs £255
Situated along the English Riviera, this multiactivity break is a fantastic opportunity for all of the students in Year 8 to build resilience, confidence, and problem-solving skills, through a variety of team-building and individual activities. A bespoke timetable will push the students out of their comfort zone at times and allow them to enjoy the variety of experiences on offer, building upon the friendships they have formed in Year 7, and providing a great opportunity to make new ones. The trip is all about having fun, whilst helping the students to learn and develop new skills, and really shine as individuals and as part of a team.
Year Groups 8
Number of Places Available All
Who Will Be Given Priority? N/A
Dates 16-17 October 2023
Costs £295
Year 9 will undertake a cultural and cross curricular tour of Normandy and the surrounding area. Students will enjoy visits to local galleries and museums, with a brief look at Normandy’s important military history.
Year Groups 9
Number of Places Available All
Who Will Be Given Priority? N/A
Dates 15-17 October 2023
Costs £455
Year 10 will be embarking on a cultural trip to Lille in France and Bruges in Belgium. Lille is famous for its friendliness and art collection at the Palais des Beaux-Arts. Bruges is renowned for lace and its medieval buildings. The students will have the opportunity to undertake a number of fun and cultural activities in the local area, while building relationships across the year group.
Year Groups 10
Number of Places Available All
Who Will Be Given Priority? N/A
Dates 15-17 October 2023
Costs £444
Year 12 students will have the option to choose their preferred city from Oxford, Bristol, and Bath, where they will visit key places of cultural and historical interest, enjoy an evening excursion to the theatre or cinema, and have an opportunity to soak up the dynamic and vibrant atmosphere of university cities.
Year Groups 12
Number of Places Available Approximately 30 students in each city
Who Will Be Given Priority? N/A
Dates 16-17 October 2023
Costs c£350
This is an intensive study weekend of drawing, printing, and ceramics in the artistically influential coastal town of St Ives in Cornwall. We will visit the Tate St Ives, Barbara Hepworth’s House and Sculpture Garden, and the Bernard Leach Pottery. We will also take part in a ceramics workshop at the pottery and a printmaking workshop at Porthmeor Print Workshop.
Year Groups 12-13
Number of Places Available 14
Who Will Be Given Priority? Priority to Year 12 students
Dates 10-12 November 2023
Costs £420
This trip to the marshes of Sheppey unleashes the students’ creative writing potential, stirring their gothic imagination. We will undertake a series of stimulating creative writing activities and soak up the bleak but imposing atmosphere of the swamps, including by taking some nature walks. The weekend will culminate in the production of an anthology of the weekend’s best writing.
Year Groups 12-13
Number of Places Available 20
Who Will Be Given Priority?
Sixth Formers taking English
Dates 12-14 January 2024
Costs c£300
This cultural trip will take students to one of the most beautiful cities in the world – it will be of interest to those studying Art or French, as well as to those who would like a cultural experience in Europe. During this trip, students will see a wide range of art in Paris in some of the most important art museums in the world, and they will learn about the city that has provided the context for so much inspirational artwork throughout history.
Year Groups 10-13
Number of Places Available 40
Who Will Be Given Priority? Priority to Year 11 and 13 students who study either Art or French.
Dates 9-13 February 2024
Costs £880
Iceland has been referred to as a ‘theme park for geographers’ with its waterfalls, volcanoes, glaciers, geothermal energy, geysers, sustainable communities, coastal features, and geothermal pools. The 2024 trip will visit all of the above in a guided tour around this unique and beautiful island. We use our trusted tour operator, Discover the World, an outstanding provider, which always creates a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience for our students. This trip takes in the south coast of Iceland, including the ‘Golden Circle’, trips to the Lava Centre and the Lava Show, the Secret Lagoon, a guided glacier walk and a geothermal power station, as well as experiencing black beaches, basalt columns and a range of breath-taking waterfalls.
Year Groups 10-13
Number of Places Available 40
Who Will Be Given Priority?
Whilst this an extra-curricular trip, in the first instance, priority will be given to A Level and GCSE Geography students. With a maximum of just 40 places, priority order will start with Year 13 Geography students, moving then to Year 12, on to Year 11 and then Year 10. We expect the majority of students will come from Year 10.
Dates 9-13
February 2024
Costs £1270
The aim of the trip is to learn about Berlin and Germany’s rich culture. We will visit historic sites of the city, and this will bring history to life. For those studying German, it will also allow them to develop speaking and listening skills by communicating with native German speakers in real-life situations.
Year Groups 10-12
Number of Places Available 30
Who Will Be Given Priority? Students who are studying German or Histroy at GCSE and A Level
Dates 21-24 March 2024
Costs £727
After an incredible Ski Trip last year, we will travel to St Anton in Austria – it is renowned for its incredible off-piste, plentiful snowfall and breath-taking views. The aim is for participants to learn how to ski or improve their skiing ability, while experiencing quality skiing conditions. There will also be enrichment activities and cultural experiences.
Year Groups 9-12
Number of Places Available
Who Will Be Given Priority?
50
Older year groups given priority and pupils who weren’t able to go on 2023 Ski Trip over those pupils that did in the same year group.
Dates 21-27 March 2024
Costs £1,460
The experience of playing Netball abroad will improve the players’ skills and build team cohesion. We will travel to Cape Town, South Africa, for 7 nights. Those on tour will participate in training sessions and 4 matches, have a surf lesson, along with visits to Table Mountain, Robben Island, the Langa Township Tour, District 6 museum, and a dusk and sunrise game drive.
Year Groups 9, 10, 12
Number of Places Available 30
Who Will Be Given Priority?
If oversubscribed squad players will be prioritised
Dates 24 May to 2 June 2024
Costs £2,497
A Level Geography courses include the production of an independent coursework project or Non-Examined Assessment (NEA). The Dorset trip, based at Leeson House field studies centre in Langton Matravers, ‘kick starts’ the NEA process for our senior Roedean geographers.
The centre and its excellent staff provide our students with a range of field investigation, analysis and study write-up skills. The trip involves primary data collection in the field using the centre’s equipment and evening planning & review lessons, led by both Leeson and Roedean staff. Our visit to the Isle of Purbeck and the southern Jurassic Coast also includes extensive familiarisation with the geomorphological processes and landforms covered in the Coasts unit of the AQA A Level specification, through dynamic teaching ‘in the field’.
Year Groups 12
Number of Places Available 11
Who Will Be Given Priority? Year 12 Geography students
Dates 14-17 June 2024
Costs £400
This exciting trip will allow the students to engage with nature and learn about conservation and ecology. All of the following are included: a visit to the Bug Farm to learn about the importance of insects in agriculture, food, and sustainable living; a boat tour of a to spot seals, dolphins, and migrating birds, such as puffins; learning about the growing importance of seaweed farming; studying intertidal marine surveys; taking part in a Surfers Against Sewage beach clean; and enjoying camp fires and marshmallows.
Year Groups 7-8
Number of Places Available 40
Who Will Be Given Priority? Those who have demonstrated a keen interest over the year
Dates 8-10 June 2024
Costs c£395
This trip will continue the work of the inaugural trip to Moldova in July 2023 – students will teach English to Ukrainian refugee children over a period of a week. They will also visit an orphanage in Moldova, which could later become the focus of the Project.
Year Groups 11-12
Number of Places Available 12
Who Will Be Given Priority? Students will be selected by application
Dates 30 June to 7 July 2024
Costs £650