Experiencing Calvert from a teachers perspective

Jonathan Gibson has been bringing students to Calvert Lakes for several years now and firmly believes his learners benefit greatly from trying new things and spending time outdoors here.

We invited Jonathan to our 50th birthday Open Day celebration in March and asked him about his experience of Calvert and why a visit here is so important.

Video Transcript

I’m Jonathan Gibson. I’m from Hopwood Hall College in Middleton.

We come to Calvert on a residential every year.

It’s a fantastic experience for all our learners.

School trips for us are an opportunity for our learners to do something different, something new, to challenge themselves.

There isn’t one favourite activity. There’s a vast amount for different learners.

I often think back to swimming in the pool and seeing the snow coming down through the windows outside, with the music playing and learners who sometimes don’t get opportunities to swim that much, generally, having an extremely wonderful, chilled time.

So the instructors are extremely supportive, obviously very well experienced, have lots of empathy, very patient, extremely good at meeting our learners’ needs.

The best thing for me is how inclusive it is in terms of all the different activities that they’ve got on offer, and how accommodating the staff are. All staff, from the catering to the instructors to people working in the office, everybody’s extremely accommodating and makes sure that our needs are met.

I’ve learned how important it is for learners to experience things in the outdoors.

I quite like the fact that Wi-Fi hasn’t been the best, because I think learners tend to isolate themselves, and I think being in the outdoors allows them to build social skills and teamworking skills and get better life skills.

Our learners gain a fantastic amount from the residential, from experiences at Calvert.

They gain lots of confidence and self-esteem.

I would definitely recommend Calvert Lakes to other schools and colleges.

And it’s a fantastic residential for all learners to have a wonderful experience and challenge themselves.

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