AN AVERAGE OF 4.94 STARS OUT OF 5 IN REVIEWS FROM SCHOOLS
2019 has been another year of amazing growth for The Outdoors People that saw us delivering 38% more School Camps than we did in 2018. As always, we like to be as transparent as we can be, so here’s how it went:
THE HEADLINE NUMBERS
The Outdoors People worked with 1476 children across 29 schools in 2019. This is 38% more camps than the year before.
All of those schools were given an opportunity to complete a post-camp feedback form and 15 of them chose to do so.
Of the fifteen schools that did so, all of them said they would book a camp with us again and 86% have already done so.
Fourteen out of fifteen schools rated their camping experience overall as "excellent" (5 out of 5).
One of them rated their camping experience overall as "good" (4 out of 5).
Average rating overall for “Camping Experience”: 4.93 out of 5.
Taken across all categories, our average score was 4.94 out of 5.
Of the seven schools that completed a feedback form and that had camped with us before, four thought their camp was as good as in previous years, and three thought that we were better than in previous years.
86% of the schools we worked with in 2019 had already booked another camp with us by the middle of October.
On average, 90% of the schools we work with each year, go on to book another camp with us
KEY CRITICISMS
Unsurprisingly, given the numbers above, our schools didn’t have many criticisms of our camps.
In response to 2019’s feedback, we are making the following changes:
Natural Navigation
On our popular Natural Navigation activity, young people learn various ways of navigating in the wild cumulating in their learning about magnetism to make an improvised compass. Some schools felt that this session wasn’t active enough. Weather permitting, we run this activity as a navigation journey and it always includes multiple hands on elements. We have updated the description for this product so that it is clearer to schools that this session may be less suitable for some groups. We are also looking at adding a “treasure hunt” element at the end of the activity using the skills the children have developed.
Tower of Power
Tower of Power is one of our exciting Life Skills and Team Building challenges. For 2020 we are rolling out updated components that:
Increase the number of choices the young people have to make, improving participation, leadership, and communication.
Allow us to adapt the activity to unusually large group sizes for when children join the camp at the last minute.
Create a natural “difficulty curve” that starts from a point that is easier than the task is currently and becomes more difficult as the activity progresses.
Water Rockets
As our “grand finale” on every camp, the children launch “signal flares” (water rockets!) to summon rescue from their survival situation. Some schools wanted to see the children getting more goes at this activity. We have looked at some alternative options to replace this activity but feel this is the most exciting and engaging activity available that can fit into the available time at the end of a camp. We are instead trialling a new structure for this activity that should increase how many times each team gets to launch the rocket.
Camp Directing
On our feedback form this year, we asked schools which of these options they would prefer:
“We would like to work with the same Camp Director year-on-year if possible.”
“We would like to mostly work with the same Camp Director year-on-year but would like Craig (Company Director) to try and work with us every few years.”
“We would like to work with a variety of camp Directors if possible.”
“It is not important to us who our Camp Director is so long as the camp is good.”
No schools expressly wanted to work with a variety of Camp Directors but there was no truly clear preference amongst the other three options. There was a slight lean towards “It is not important to us who our Camp Director is so long as the camp is good”. As a result, we will be continuing with our current policy of having new schools work with our Company Director if he’s available, and otherwise maintaining continuity where possible as we continue to grow.
A SELECTION OF THE MANY POSITIVE COMMENTS
“The booking process was really easy and Craig is brilliant at communicating with timely replies and happy to answer any questions I have, making my first time organising a trip smooth and easy.”
“Instructors were brilliant with the children. All children loved each and every activity and liked the range that were on offer.”
“Again, all children thoroughly enjoyed all of the activities and took away lots of personal learning as well as academic knowledge.”
“[Our Learning Outcomes were] more than achieved!”
“Thank you for allowing our children to experience something so different. They really had a brilliant time and the feedback from children and their parents has been nothing but positive.”
“Thank you so much for another successful camp. Yet again, you have provided an exceptional service. I would highly recommend this experience to any school. The Outdoor People can provide an opportunity for children that we as a school cannot do.”
“Thank again for another great camp! This was our third camp with you and the whole experience goes from strength to strength. Great to see familiar faces coming back! We have already booked for the next one!”
“The best 24-hours!”
THE NUMBERS IN DETAIL
15 of 29 schools chose to complete their feedback form. They rated us in a variety of areas:
Administration and Booking: 5 out of 5.
Our Staff Team: 4.86 out of 5.
Full Camp Activities: 4.96 out of 5.
Group Activities: 4.97 out of 5.
Camp Activities: 4.93 out of 5
Learning Outcomes: 4.86 out of 5.
Overall Camping Experience: 4.93 out of 5.
Value for Money: 4.86 out of 5.
57% of schools that had previously camped with us felt that their camp was as good as in previous years and 43% thought it was better.
100% would book a camp with us again.
Winter Residentials
Last winter we launched our new Winter Residentials product. All of our camps are low cost compared to comparable residential experiences but for some schools and families, they can still feel quite expensive. Our Winter Residentials allow us to offer a lower cost option for schools, run during our quieter winter months.
Our 21 hour Winter Residentials are available from December to March. Our accredited educational activities are delivered in our cosy canvas bell tents and we run activities involving all of our campers - like that all-important campfire! - in our giant eight metre tent. We heat the tents with traditional wood-burning stoves and take advantage of the schools buildings to allow the children to “camp” inside the school.
We expect this product to grow more slowly than our summer camps as “winter” and “camping” aren’t two thoughts that immediately come to mind. However, along with all of the schools that were involved with us during our pilot period, we have had a number of other schools book a Winter Residential for the new school year.
Dates are still available for these experiences if you are excited by the prospect of some snowy outdoors adventures!
FINANCES
As the feedback from our schools shows, The Outdoors People have had another year of delivering outstanding camps and amazing experiences.
Last year, we made a big effort to invest in our awesome staff team by expanding sick pay and staff training allowances to our large pool of amazing freelance instructors. After a third year of rapid growth, we are investing in our business this year. We have just doubled our capacity for 2020 and are expecting to continue steadily increasing the number of camps we can offer through 2021 and 2022.
Like all UK businesses, Brexit is currently a big question mark for the future of our company but we are hoping that we are well positioned to survive any economic fallout from the current uncertainties.
The Outdoors People are coming into 2020 with healthy reserves and a projected substantial increase in turnover due to our continued growth.
RAW DATA
A spreadsheet of all our 2019 feedback form responses from schools can be downloaded here.
IN SUMMARY
We are very excited to be looking back on yet another year of amazing growth and positive feedback. We are extremely proud of our 90% rebooking rate and a third year of “4.9 out of 5” reviews. We cannot thank our amazing team enough for delivering such wonderful experiences to the children that we work with. You all work extremely hard to ensure that we provide the best camps we possibly can and the feedback from schools is a testament to your success!
The schools and companies that we have worked with over the last 12 months have been uniformly wonderful and their commitment to bringing their students amazing opportunities and learning experiences is beyond doubt! Thank you all for your support in helping us give your children the best camps we can. We are looking forward to working with almost all of you again soon and would like to extend an extra thank you to all of the schools that completed their feedback forms, it makes a huge difference to our ability to improve our camps and grow our company.
Many thanks,
Craig Geddes
Company Director
