Dolphin School field trips are unique in that the children start the programme as early as Year Three and progress through to Year 8. The visits have been carefully chosen, reconnoitred and fine-tuned over forty years to dovetail with our school curriculum. They add weight to our fully integrated cross-curricular programme that uses the trips to teach about farming, the many and varied uses of stone, ports, bridges, architecture, to name but a few. The children gain a wider understanding of the world around them; education is not about learning separate subjects per se but about how knowledge transcends the classroom so that connections can be made between the subjects taught at school and the real world. The trips allow the children to investigate, to observe, to touch, to draw, above all to see what they are learning in its proper place.

Field trips are residential and begin in Year Three with three days in East Sussex studying (and re-enacting!) the Battle of Hastings as well as gaining an understanding of the local agriculture and geography. Year Four go to Dorset to study the geography and geology of the coast. They also visit Max Gate, the home of Thomas Hardy, and look at how Celtic roundhouses were constructed. Year Five visit Ironbridge and learn about the Industrial Revolution and how the introduction of iron helped Britain become a world leader in industry; Year Six go to North Wales and learn about Edward I's attempts to subjugate the Welsh in the 13th century. They also look at the design of a castle and its drawbridge, analysing why round towers succeeded square ones. Geography again plays an important part as the children see the results of glaciation for real in the form of a u-shaped valley. Years Seven and Eight go to Northumbria to see at first hand the influence of the Roman occuaption in Britain, and the trip includes a day's walk along Hadrian's wall. There are also residential trips to York, Stratford, Boulogne, Normandy and Italy.

In all our field trips, sketching is held dear to our heart. An art teacher accompanies the trips wherever possible and the children learn to be good observers, to compare similarities in architectural style of buildings from different trips, and to understand perspective. This also allows an opportunity to take a breather between visits and helps to foster good relationships amongst peers. Overall field trips have many cross-curricular aspects to the work undertaken both in and out of the classroom and they are therefore of great educational and social value to the children.

Almost all costs associated with our field trip programme are included in the fees.