Inspiring learning through outdoor education and adventure
Description
A trip to Kingswood is a life changing adventure. For over 35 years, our transformative school trips have encouraged primary and secondary school pupils to build confidence and resilience by taking on fun challenges.
Formerly the Earth Centre, one of the millennium commission projects, Dearne Valley residential activity centre was transformed into a state-of-the-art activity centre in 2012. Dearne Valley is our most environmentally sustainable centre, complete with one of Europe’s largest solar panels and an on-site water treatment plant. A unique blend of nature, adventurous activities, and contemporary purpose built accommodation and high quality learning facilities.
With fantastic indoor and outdoor activity facilities surrounded by the beautiful countryside of South Yorkshire, a purpose built watersports lake and access to the adjacent River Don for watersports, Dearne Valley offers something for everyone.
Facilities
- Outdoors: State of the art activity park with challenging apparatus including high and low ropes, zipwire and climbing
- Indoors: Giant indoor sports hall for climbing, fencing, archery, sport and team building activities, plus a laser zone
- Watersports: Purpose built watersports lake and adjacent River Don for raft building, kayaking and canoeing
- Gift shop: Our on-site shops sell snacks and drinks, as well as postcards, souvenirs, games and mementos
- Other facilities: Diner, chill out areas, party leader lounges, indoor and outdoor classroom spaces, natural water treatment plant, outdoor amphitheatre
Reviews
Overview
4.4
147 reviews
Excellent
50%
Very Good
39%
Average
8%
Poor
2%
Awful
1%
(March 2024 - Primary School)
(March 2024 - Primary School)
(March 2024 - Primary School)
(February 2024 - Primary School)
(February 2024 - Primary School & Secondary School)
(February 2024 - Primary School)
Good for team building, resilience and independence (January 2024 - Primary School)
(January 2024 - Primary School)
Perfect for team building and children gaining independence. (December 2023 - Primary School)
(December 2023 - Primary School)
(December 2023)
(November 2023 - Primary School)
Really exciting activities and a tailor made itinerary. Perfect for our Y6s. (November 2023 - Primary School)
(November 2023 - Secondary School)
(October 2023 - Primary School)
(October 2023 - Primary School)
(October 2023 - Primary School)
(October 2023 - Primary School)
(October 2023)
(September 2023)
(September 2023 - Primary School)
The venue is very organised with trained instructors that lead each session. Accommodation is clean and comfortable. (September 2023 - Primary School)
(September 2023 - Primary School)
(July 2023)
(July 2023 - Secondary School)
(June 2023 - Primary School)
(June 2023 - Primary School)
(June 2023 - Secondary School)
(May 2023 - Primary School)
Challenging activities. First night away experience for many of the children. Well looked after by group co-ordinator.
(May 2023 - Primary School)
(May 2023 - Primary School)
(April 2023 - Primary School)
(April 2023 - Primary School)
I would recomend it more for team building and working on confidence. (March 2023 - Primary School)
(January 2023 - Primary School)
(January 2023 - Primary School)
(November 2022 - Secondary School)
(November 2022 - Primary School)
(November 2022 - Primary School)
Pastoral (November 2022 - Secondary School)
(November 2022 - Primary School)
(October 2022 - Secondary School)
(October 2022 - Primary School)
(October 2022 - Primary School)
(September 2022 - Primary School)
(September 2022)
(July 2022 - Secondary School)
(July 2022 - Primary School)
(July 2022 - Primary School)
(July 2022 - Primary School)
We took Year 8 students. I wouldn't want to take students much older, as I feel like the activities were probably suited to slightly younger. (June 2022 - Secondary School)
(June 2022 - Primary School)
(June 2022 - Primary School & Secondary School)
Great experience (June 2022 - Primary School)
Great experience for outdoor adventurous activities and bushcraft (June 2022 - Primary School)
Building confidence and perseverance (May 2022 - Primary School)
This visit was particularly valuable in developing social and emotional skills. (May 2022 - Primary School)
(May 2022 - Secondary School)
(May 2022 - Primary School)
I would highly recommend Kingswood Dearne Valley for a residential visit. The staff were knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The fact the you are allocated a 'course director' while you are there is really helpful. They get to know the group and support with any issues that might arise. The itinerary meant that the children were kept busy throughout the day and the evening. The activities were pitched at just the right level for our Y6 children.
The food was excellent too. We will definitely book again. (March 2022 - Primary School)
The site and infrastructure is immensely impressive, however, staff training needs to be improved and developed. (March 2022 - Primary School)
(March 2022 - Secondary School)
(January 2022 - Secondary School)
(January 2022 - Secondary School)
(November 2021 - Primary School)
(September 2021 - Primary School)
(July 2021 - Primary School)
(March 2020 - Primary School)
(March 2020 - Secondary School)
(March 2020 - Primary School)
Excellent residential, lots of enjoyable activities for the pupils to involve themselves in. (March 2020 - Secondary School)
(January 2020 - Secondary School)
(January 2020 - Primary School)
(December 2019 - Primary School)
Excellent facilities. Will definitely return next year...in fact have already booked! (November 2019 - Primary School)
Site is rather tired. Could do with a good tidy. Accommodation is also looking tired lacking in some basic facilities particularly for accompanying school staff. The activities are good but delivery by sometimes young and very inexperienced staff could be problematic in some situations. (November 2019 - Primary School)
Adequate accommodation for a school visit. (November 2019 - Secondary School)
The facilities (toilets) were not as clean as they should be. Facilitators / group leaders often abandoned groups with little information about where to go next / what procedures were for lunch etc. (October 2019 - Primary School)
(October 2019 - Secondary School)
(September 2019 - Primary School)
(September 2019 - Primary School)
Friendly staff, well organised activities, clean facilities and accommodation. (September 2019 - Secondary School)
good (August 2019 - Secondary School)
(July 2019 - Primary School)
Fantastic staff and facilities (July 2019 - Secondary School)
(July 2019 - Primary School)
All staff thoroughly enjoyed Kingswood this year. Our children were very well behaved and the teacher 'team I took was brilliant. The Kingswood team who looked after us were also very good. I am always impressed with how Kingswood always listen to feedback after our stay so that the following year another improvement has been made. (July 2019 - Primary School)
This is my third year at this particular centre and the children always have a fantastic time here. Each year we have had slight issues (never with the staff who are brilliant) but with the dormitories and activities. (June 2019 - Primary School)
The staff were brilliant from start to finish. (June 2019 - Primary School)
(June 2019 - Primary School)
Our experience was very good due to our group leader. If we did not have this particular group leader, our experience would have been very different
The organisation of the catering was poor. The shop was also poor. Activities were good but it was dependent upon the activity leader. (June 2019 - Primary School)
(June 2019 - Primary School)
A brilliant residential location! (June 2019 - Primary School)
(June 2019 - Primary School)
(June 2019 - Primary School)
(June 2019 - Primary School)
Kingswood provided a superb experience for all of our children. (June 2019 - Primary School)
Excellent residential location - decent accommodation & food (June 2019 - Secondary School)
(April 2019 - Secondary School)
(March 2019 - Primary School)
(March 2019 - Primary School)
(March 2019 - Secondary School)
(March 2019 - Primary School)
Kingswood Dearne Valley is a brilliant outdoor activity centre for children of all ages. All the staff are friendly and welcoming and really put the children first. The accommodation is clean and tidy and the food is very good for a residential centre. (March 2019 - Secondary School)
(March 2019 - Primary School)
Good classrooms, good accommodation, good activities.
Catering and indoor social areas could be improved. (February 2019 - Secondary School)
A well organised site, wide range of activities available to the children with supportive staff. (January 2019 - Primary School)
Great venue; not always brilliant communication - we had to be quite self-reliant (January 2019 - Secondary School)
(December 2018 - Primary School)
(December 2018 - Primary School)
(November 2018)
Some very good experiences and others not so good. Experience very much depended on the quality of the instructors. Some were very professional while others were inappropriate and juvenile. Management were keen to deal with complaints that were made. A big concern of ours was the mix, on site, of primary age children with much older children and young adults. (November 2018 - Primary School)
very good (November 2018 - Primary School)
Great accommodation, staff and activities. (November 2018 - Primary School)
(November 2018 - Primary School)
Many issues - huge site didn't feel secure or appropriate for primary age. (October 2018 - Primary School)
The trip on the whole was rewarding. Certainly the children enjoyed it. The organisation was a little chaotic sometimes and there was another large group which made the organisation of mealtimes challenging. The centre staff were open to our suggestions to resolve the issues. They also catered adequately for our Halal and specialist diets (October 2018 - Primary School)
(October 2018 - Primary School)
Amazing experience for the Year 6 class that I brought to the centre. It made the children develop their skills of working together and being away from home for a week. It also helped them with the resilience of tasks that they didnt find easy. (October 2018 - Primary School)
(October 2018 - Primary School)
Great learning opportunities, instructors, activities and provision. (September 2018 - Primary School)
(July 2018 - Secondary School)
The activities were good but there was a lot of waiting around on some.
The grounds were full of litter, unemptied bins and the toilets kept breaking down. (July 2018 - Primary School)
(July 2018 - Primary School)
(June 2018 - Primary School)
Staff were helpful, entertaining and very knowledgeable about their activities. Staff not involved in the group helped staff and students. (June 2018 - Secondary School)
Will organise own transport in furture rather than the recommended bus company. (June 2018 - Primary School)
(June 2018 - Secondary School)
The staff were enthusiastic and accommodating. The students had a very positive experience. (June 2018 - Secondary School)
Amazing residential this year. The instructors were all enthusiastic and encouraged our children throughout all the activities. (June 2018 - Primary School)
This Kingswood Centre is in a great setting because it is over a large site, most of which is quite flat so easy to travel around. It has some beautiful woodland areas within the site (as it was formally an Earth Centre). It feels a safe site because it has a natural barrier of the River Don on one side and then is surrounded by woodland and grassland on all other sides. The Kingswood team are very safety conscious and the activities and equipment used are always safe.
The facilities are good. The accommodation is helpfully only two storeys high and the rooms are comfortable.
There were a few issues with some aspects of accommodation this year i.e. door handles needed mending and bathroom lights fixing but we went on the first week of the season so a few teething issues at the start.
The staff are friendly and try their best to sort out any problems quickly.
The children had a great week and all the activities met our requirements for the aim of our week.
(June 2018 - Primary School)
well planned and delivered programme meeting the given objectives of the visit. (June 2018 - Primary School)
(May 2018 - Secondary School)
Really good few days, just what we needed for the children, some of whom had never been away from home overnight before. Nice range of activities, good accomodation, well fed. (May 2018 - Primary School)
(May 2018 - Primary School)
Brilliant facility that catered for the needs of all children. Children fully engaged in the programme and maximum outcomes were achieved. (April 2018)
Staff assigned to our group were friendly and helpful, but I felt there were too many school groups there - and often the staff leading the activities seemed inexperienced and did not enthuse or engage the children. Children were often hungry as snacks were not offered.
The accommodation was good, with spacious, clean rooms, and the children felt safe at all times. (April 2018 - Primary School)
(April 2018 - Primary School)
(March 2018 - Primary School)
Chaotic arrival. Inconsistent quality of leaders. Very good facilities and food. (March 2018 - Primary School)
(February 2018 - Primary School)
(February 2018 - Primary School)
(January 2018 - Secondary School)
Fab Staff and site (January 2018 - Secondary School)
Too many young adults there which did not mix well with the primary age children (January 2018 - Primary School)
(December 2017 - Primary School)
(November 2017 - Primary School)
