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Y8 Residential 2025

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We are thrilled to provide more details about the exciting opportunity for our Year 8 students this June. This trip is designed to offer students a memorable experience filled with fun, learning, and personal growth. It will also allow them to connect face-to-face, building resilience, teamwork, and, most importantly, friendships.

Initial Information:

  • We have prepared this first booklet as an initial guide for families. A second information pack will be sent out in due course with all required pre trip sign off forms – most will be electronic, but we are still in the process of setting this up on My Child At School.
  • We also recommend families visit the PGL website for additional information.

Useful Links:

We believe this trip will be a fantastic opportunity for our students to develop new skills, build lasting friendships, and create wonderful memories. We look forward to your support and enthusiasm for this exciting adventure.

A parent information evening will be held for student and families after we return from Feb Half Term.

At this meeting we will go through the daily experiences, be introduced to the trip staff, answer any specific questions, review the itinerary and confirm how we will group students.

Osmington Bay Centre

The Centre is situated right by the sea just outside Weymouth, in the heart of Dorset's World Heritage site - 'The Jurassic Coast’.  It is set in 45 acres of grounds with its own private beach and cliff top views. One of the first things you will notice is the huge high ropes course with its zip wire and the stunning views of Weymouth, Portland and Chesil Beach.  This is one of PGL’s biggest centres with superb facilities, great water sports and more activities than you can count!

Facilities

There are great outdoor facilities including high and low ropes courses, abseiling towers, a football pitch and an underground tunnel trail. The indoor facilities include, climbing and abseiling walls, a large sports hall and an immense activity zone.

Water sports take place just a short coach journey away on the nearby Isle of Portland, at a multi-million pound facility where the sailing for the 2012 Olympics was held.

In their ‘free’ time, students can make use of:

  • Outdoor sports area, with loan of footballs etc.
  • Small shop selling sweets and souvenirs.  Shopping will be supervised, so times will be arranged.

Each day is divided into several sessions of activities including an early evening session.  There are breaks for meals and free time.

Accommodation

The centre sleeps students in shared rooms with toilets and showers allocated to each room.  Dorms will be organised before travelling and where possible in friendship groups.  Bed linen and duvets are not provided so students are asked to bring a sleeping bag and pillow with them, along with soap, towels and toiletries.  The rooms are dormitory style with heating and storage drawers or cupboards.  There are separate rooms for boys and girls, with adult accommodation between.  Students are expected to make their beds, keep their rooms tidy and to leave very muddy shoes or bootsoutside rooms.  Students will be in their rooms by 9.30pm and lights out at 10.00pm, however this is subject to slight variation.  Student dorms, other than their own, are strictly out of bounds.

Meals

Plenty of food and water is provided, with a choice at all meals, including vegetarian options and also a salad bar.  “It is a matter of pride and principle that no child leaves a PGL dining room hungry! They are always welcome to revisit the self-serve stations and help themselves to more.”

Students do not need to bring extra food supplies. The meals are organised on a buffet system with different sitting times. Students must help clear away when they have finished.  If any of the boys and girls have specific dietary requirements, this should be made clear on the information form.

Allergies and Dietary requirements will be catered for however, ‘not liking’ a certain food is not an acceptable status. We will never have a child go hungry, but would ask families to ensure students are reminded ahead of departure on the importance of eating well and trying new or unfamiliar items,

Sample menus can be found here including a useful allergen filter and special menus for Vegetarian, Vegan or Gluten Free UK PGL Menu - PGL Schools & Groups

You Will Need: (Suggested)

  • Coat/jacket – warm and waterproof (or a separate waterproof)
  • Four pairs of warm trousers (not jeans) – three quarter length trousers will not be permitted for certain activities
  • Shorts
  • Leisurewear for downtime
  • Two sweaters – one should be thick or fleece (wool is warmest)
  • Sweatshirt(s)
  • Four tops – at least one with long sleeves
  • Underwear – overpack in this area!
  • Nightclothes – appropriate for shared dorm spaces
  • Hat and gloves (weather can be unpredictable!)
  • Trainers (these will probably get wet and muddy so an old pair is best!)
  • ‘Other’ shoes (not open toed)
  • Sturdy shoes
  • 2 towels (one for activities and one for showering)
  • Toilet bag (including soap, hairbrush, toiletries, etc).  No aerosols please – roll on deodorant only as aerosols will set off the fire alarms in the rooms.
  • Bin bag for dirty clothes and spare plastic bags
  • Water bottle named
  • Small rucksack/bag
  • Writing and drawing equipment
  • Sun cream
  • Sun hat/ sun lasses
  • A set of clothes suitable for disco (jeans permitted)
  • Pocket Money for small shop on site (£15 is sufficient)
  • Books, cards, travel boardgames, magazines. puzzles for the coach/ down time if you wish

All clothing and property must be named

Money: Students are welcome to bring some pocket money with them for their stay. The PGL centres provide gift shops where they can purchase branded and non-branded goods, including stationery, T-shirts, caps and confectionery. Money PGL-Gift-Shop-Price-List.pdf

WHAT NOT TO BRING

  • Mobile phones / smart devices are not permitted. One of the principle aims of the week is to unplug from all social media, digital screens, 5G/wifi devices. We will ensure pictures are taken over the week for families to review/ share.
  • The only exception here would be a smart reader device for medical needs. This will be through individual agreement and review.
  • Expensive cameras
  • Expensive or cherished jewellery
  • Expensive or favourite clothing or shoes
  • Laptop computers/tablets/ ipads/ gaming devices
  • Aerosols  - they set off fire alarms!!

It is the responsibility of each student to take care of their own belongings. 

Each student should not bring more than one suitcase or holdall (soft luggage is preferred with wheels), and they should be able to carry this over a short distance.