For more than 20 years, our Year 6 pupils have travelled to Ironbridge and Shropshire for a residential experience that has become a very special part of life at West Horndon Primary School.

Staying for four nights at Coalport Youth Hostel, we create a bespoke programme for each individual cohort, combining rich academic learning with an even greater emphasis on personal development. Over two decades, we have built wonderful relationships with the hostel, the Ironbridge Gorge Museums and people within the local community, giving our children opportunities and experiences that go far beyond a conventional school residential.

From exploring Blists Hill Victorian Town and the extraordinary industrial heritage of Ironbridge to meeting local people and discovering special places such as Brick and Beyond, the week brings learning to life in ways that simply cannot be replicated in the classroom. The children even get to experience life as a Victorian Child both by having a lesson in a Victorian School and by working in a Brickworks. 

Just as importantly, Shropshire gives our children the opportunity to slow down, switch off and grow. The week is a digital detox, replacing screens with conversation, exploration and shared experiences. We walk for miles together along former railway lines, the Silkin Way and the Severn Valley Way; take torchlit night walks; gaze at the stars; play Victorian games; and eat, talk and laugh together around the table.

Our longstanding relationship with the local community means that our children are invited to enjoy live music alongside local residents and, in a tradition that has now become part of our visit, our Year 6 pupils perform for the local community too. These moments of connection, conversation and shared experience are incredibly special. Throughout the week, children learn to organise themselves, support one another, try unfamiliar things and grow in confidence, independence, resilience and social skills.

What makes the residential truly WHPS is that it is never an off-the-shelf trip. We shape and adapt it every year around the needs, interests and personalities of the children in front of us. It represents our commitment to developing the whole child and ensuring that, as pupils prepare to leave West Horndon, they have opportunities to discover something new about the world, about one another and, importantly, about themselves. Year after year, when our pupils look back on their time at primary school, they identify Shropshire as one of the highlights of their WHPS experience.

For us, there can be few better examples of personal development at West Horndon Primary School: learning together, living together, stepping outside our comfort zones and creating memories that last long after primary school has ended.