Promoting strong personalities

School trips are more than just a break from everyday school life - they are a valuable opportunity to specifically promote the personal development of children and young people. Pupils with additional support needs in particular benefit from educationally supervised programmes. This is because they can strengthen their social skills outside their usual environment, gain confidence in themselves and others and deepen class cohesion.

With immediate effect, schools participating in the „Start-up opportunities programme“ of the federal and state governments use their opportunity budgets for such school trips. The Startchancen programme aims to promote the basic skills of children and young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds in order to enable them to successfully complete their education. As part of a three or five-day school trip, valuable foundations can be laid, gaps closed and skills developed at every age level.

School trips for social learning & team spirit

One example of such a school trip is the „Great class gang!“ in the Neuss-Uedesheim Youth Hostel. Primary school children in Years 3 and 4 experience a mixture of exercise, fun and team tasks that promote group cohesion and social learning. The children learn to interact better with each other and show courage and a willingness to help.

For the 5th class offers the Familiarisation camp „TeamNewcomer“ in the Bad Münstereifel Youth Hostel is an excellent opportunity to ease the transition to secondary school. With the help of experienced trainers, the programme promotes team building, class identity and the establishment of common rules. The five-day programme integrates playful tasks that strengthen trust and cohesion in the new class community. The programme can be optimally combined with other educational measures in the introductory phase to lower secondary school and integrated into the school programme in a stable manner.

During other activities such as team speed dating, a mountain bike course and a tour around Bad Münstereifel, the children not only get to know their new classmates better, but also have the chance to discover and try out their own skills at their own individual level.

The Adventure TEAM programme in the Wipperfürth Sports Youth Hostel is aimed at pupils in years 3 to 7. The focus here is on exciting cooperative tasks and challenges that strengthen the sense of togetherness and promote social skills. Whether crossing a „moorland field“ or building the „Tower of Power“ - the pupils learn to master challenges together and develop their teamwork skills in the process. And at night, they have to get to their destination together in the dark without a torch. A great opportunity for the children and young people to practise communicating with each other and develop confidence in themselves and their classmates.

Focus on social learning

What criteria are important for a successful school trip that aims to teach basic social skills?

• The class trip to a particularly suitable youth hostel usually lasts 5 days and is supervised on 3 days by 2 competent and experienced instructors.
• The extracurricular learning experiences are linked to everyday school life through individual agreements between class teachers and speakers.
• The objectives and methods of the programme are transparent and the rules are clear and adapted.
• Content is conveyed practically and vividly; the group experiences authentic borderline experiences and real points of friction.
• In a reliable environment with sufficient safe spaces, pupils have time for rest and reflection.
• An experience-oriented approach, as a counter-programme to the usual lessons, allows social learning to be experienced intensively.

School trips that focus on social learning can be found at jh-klassenfahrt.de. For all questions about a school trip from A for arrival to Z for additional services, the Service team of the youth hostels in the Rhineland there for you. You can reach the team by phone at 0211-3026 3026 or by e-mail to: service@djh-rheinland.de