The World Challenge programme
The majority of expeditions we organise are typically demanding 4-week journeys through countries of breathtaking natural beauty. In this case the challenge begins long before the journey starts, with a 15-20 month programme of training, fundraising and research that provides the maximum educational impact and teaches students about responsibility and planning.The World Challenge expedition programme phases
The programme is made up typically of five phases, depending on the expedition, some may or may not include a project and others might focus solely on that element.- Build-up phase
- Expedition fundraising
- Expedition phase – trekking
- Community project
- Review and reflection
The build-up phase
The key difference between a World Challenge expedition and an adventurous school trip is that our expeditions are led by the Challengers (students), encouraging maximum ownership and responsibility. Long before the expedition goes overseas the preparation begins with team meetings facilitated by a member of the World Challenge staff, a training expedition in the UK and acclimatisation in-country.
The acclimatisation meeting
This is the first of the meetings run by World Challenge in school. The aim is to acclimatise the team to the programme, introducing the web portal, which all expedition members’ can access 24/7 for full details about their expedition, the money management programme to help with fundraising and their destination. There are team building exercises and a few tasks to be completed for the next meeting such as researching their destination.
The challenge meeting
This next meeting goes into depth into the planning of the expedition – what the team would like to achieve on expedition overseas. It also goes over the tasks completed after the first meeting which all support the planning process. The team goes through scenarios that they could encounter overseas and also do first aid training. The session ends with a parents update evening.
Training expedition
The training expedition takes please in the UK a few months before the expedition departs to prepare all participants in a real life situation for expedition, allowing the team to apply all the learning from the previous months and meetings.
New programme
The whole expedition programme pre-departure was recently updated following customer feedback received so that wherever the destination or whatever the duration, we work closely with schools and colleges to ensure that we provide the expedition that best fits the needs of students and teachers.
"I just wanted to say that our planning meeting was very successful. Kevin was fab with the students and they came away very positive and excited. Having worked on your programmes for a number of years I feel that this new system is working out well in particular engaging students and parents at an early stage. Thanks"
L Earnshaw - Robert Pattinson School
Aims
Our aim is to help teach Challengers lasting lessons in responsibility and self-reliance. They will work together to raise funds to pay for their own places on the team, research the destination and plan the itinerary and once in-country for the expedition itself, they’ll be calling the shots. The more the Challengers put into these months of preparation, the more they will gain from the expedition itself.
Expedition fundraising
World Challenge has a dedicated fundraising support team on hand to guide the Challengers through the process of fundraising, as well as free World Challenge organised events such as a sponsored runs.
For more information on fundraising see our fundraising section for details.
Expedition phase – trekking
The main focus of many expeditions is the trekking phase – one of the most challenging of the phases but also one of the most rewarding. Teams learn to work together to achieve their goal, such as summiting Mount Kilimanjaro for example. Teams always return amazed at how working together and determination to succeed mean they can achieve feats they’d never dreamed of.
More information on the trekking phase.
Community project
Most of the 4-week expeditions have a project element in them but not all and some are purely focused around this, so if that is what your team would like to do there is something to fit your criteria. As part of the project the team has the opportunity to work on sustainable, worthwhile projects that will benefit the local people or their environment, while learning more about the culture and customs.
See the full range of community project focused expeditions.
Review and reflection
There is time at the end of the expedition for the teams to have a well earned rest and enjoy some fun activities and sight seeing such as white water rafting or visiting the Taj Mahal.
Find out more
T +44 (0)1494 427600E findoutmore@world-challenge.co.uk
Contact us quickly via our online contact form
Find out how to launch an expedition
