Outdoor Education Centres
Outdoor Learning
Outdoor learning is increasingly seen as an entitlement for children and young people, yet can be difficult to organise. A most useful solution is to use an Outdoor Centre.
Outdoor Education Centres
Various organisations operate Outdoor Education Centres, which are widely used by schools as keyparts of their annual curriculum. Residential and day activities include Environmental Education, P7-S1 Transition, Leadership courses, Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, etc:
Scripture Union Scotland www.suscotland.org.uk
Scripture Union Scotland is a Christian charity and part of the worldwide family of Scripture Union. SU Scotland has three outdoor centres providing residential experiences for school groups across Scotland. There is a wide variety of activity packages available with both on-site and off-site activities. Visit their Classroom Outdoors website for more information.
Abernethy Centres www.abernethy.org.ukbernethy.org.uk 
Abernethy Trust have four centres in Scotland offering outdoor activities both onsite and offsite. The Trust is a Christian charity operating for almost 50 years. The Trust caters for schools, churches and youth groups and has its own Instructor Training School. Their schools brochure is available here: https://issuu.com/abernethyadventurecentres/docs/schools_brochure_web
Compass Christian Centre, Glenshee www.compasschristian.co.uk
Compass Christian Centre. This is an independent Christian centre running for more than 50 years. Set in the Glenshee area the centre offers outdoor experiences onsite and offsite and is well situated for ski residentials.
Teen Ranch, near Dundee www.teenranch.scot 
Teen Ranch runs camps for many different user groups and hosts Primary and Secondary School pupils throughout the year. They have 1, 2 or 3 day activity programmes, adjusted according to the school requirements. The activity programme has been designed to develop students in team building and inter personal skills.
Rock UK, Whittaugh Park, Newcastleton, Scottish Borders www.rockuk.org
Rock UK has four adventure centres across the UK, one of them being in the Scottish Borders. Rock UK is a Christian organisation which is almost 100 years old and caters for small and large numbers in school groups of all ages, running on-site and off-site activities.
Vine Trust School Expeditions
Vine Trust’s School Expeditions offer opportunities for older secondary school pupils and their teachers to work in partnership with in-country development organisations in Tanzania or Peru. Since 2007, 700+ school volunteers from Scotland have already been involved in 
two-week programmes which take learning far beyond the classroom. https://www.vinetrust.org/volunteer/school-expeditions
What are some of the benefits of using an Outdoor Centre?
Many of the websites above have detailed information on the way a school residential can meet different Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes.
For a slightly different perspective, Andy Wade, former Operations Director at Abernethy Barcaple, captures some descriptive experiences based on observing Christian staff at Outdoor Centres in these short writings: