Over the last few months, several reports have been published about the current way that childhood is experienced by young people in the UK and beyond. They make interesting reading and, if you need extra incentives to be running brilliant residentials, you will find them in spades.

Three reports that might be worth following up in more detail are:

• ‘The Good Childhood Report 2015’, published by The Children’s Society, which researched the experience of children in England
• ‘Children’s Independent Mobility’, an international report by the Nuffield Foundation, published by the Policy Studies Institute, about children’s independent mobility in 16 countries round the world
• The Wildlife Trusts’ report ‘Every Child Wild’, that: summarises research about the benefits that children get from being outdoors; outlines the Wildlife Trusts’ work in this area; and gives ideas about what can be done to help bring nature back to childhood.

Whilst each of the reports has a specific focus, they share general themes about the negative impacts that many children’s current experience of childhood has on them. In relation to the outdoors, here are a few examples of how things have changed in the last few generations (all taken from ‘Every Child Wild’):

• In 1971, 80% of children walked to school. In 1991, 10% of children walked to school.
• In 1915, children had an average ‘roaming range’ of 6 miles; in 2015 this is 300 yards.
• Fewer than 10% of children in 2015 play in natural areas; when their parents were children this figure was 40%.

Between them, ‘Every Child Wild’ and ‘The Good Childhood Report 2015’ also assert a number of ideas about the positive impacts that learning new things, exploring new ideas and being in the outdoors can have on children’s wellbeing, creativity, risk-taking, relationships and stress levels.

Learning Away residentials provide a wealth of opportunities for children and young people to be exposed to new and memorable experiences, explore new places and ideas, and – often, but not always – develop a new way of being in the outdoors. Our action research has shown the positive changes that these experiences bring for children and young people. One of the Learning Away schools, Hanover Primary School from Islington in London, has developed a particular commitment to introducing Year 6 children to new ways of learning and being in the wildest place they can find within the London Underground system. You can watch the film about their Learning Away ‘Back to Basics’ camping residential and its impact on their pupils here.