Groups and council funded holiday climbing sessions for young people in Milton Keynes

Over the Easter Holidays, Climb Quest welcomed hundreds of climbers during our public sessions. We were also delighted to host over 100 young people who took part in sessions that were either part of Milton Keynes Council’s HAF programme or part of the support programme run by local charity, Ride High. Read on to find out how these sessions worked and the positive outcomes the young people experienced from taking part in them.

Ride High climb high at Climb Quest

Ride High is a registered charity that transforms the lives of disadvantaged children by giving them the opportunity to learn to ride and look after horses and ponies. These children all suffer from a severe lack of self-confidence, and so Ride High bought a group over to Climb Quest for an experience that would complement the activities they get to do at the equestrian centre.Children’s Manager, Hannah Thomson said of the session

"Everyone had a wonderful time and – as well as thoroughly enjoying themselves – felt they’d achieved something new and daring during the visit. Just what they needed, thank you."

HAF Programme

The Holiday Activities & Food (HAF) Programme is funded by Milton Keynes council and offers a range of free activities and food during school holidays for children, young people and their families who are in receipt of benefit related Free School Meals.The programme is coordinated by a variety of local children’s centres, charities and activity providers.The aim for the programme is to help children and young people to:

• eat more healthily over the school holidays
• be more active during the school holidays
• take part in engaging and enriching activities
• be safe and not to be socially isolated
• have greater knowledge of health and nutrition; and
• be more engaged with school and other local services

These aims fit very well with the positive outcomes young people take from their sessions at Climb Quest, and so the centre was selected as a venue by four of the programme providers in the city, to bring around 100 children to experience climbing.Two of the providers were children’s centres and two were youth charities.

The children who took part had a one hour climbing session, followed by a healthy meal after their climb that was freshly prepared in our on-site kitchen. For some of the groups, the children then had a second hour of climbing after the meal.During their climb, they were able to try out over 20 different climbing walls, from simpler ones such as Ascendor and Twister, to the tougher walls like Lightning Crack and Orbital.

They also were able to have a go on the two Extreme Challenges; balancing up the green poles of the Stairway to Heaven, and holding on as long as possible up the Vertical Drop Slide, before experiencing a free fall slide back to the bottom.The sessions were a great success, seen here by some the feedback from the organisers:

"We had an amazing day, truly, truly amazing time at Climb Quest - the kids loved it, they said it was magical, they didn't want to go home! None of the children had experienced climbing before, but with the support of the instructors they really embraced it! Thank you so much for putting on such a great day!" MK Melting Pot"Huge thanks for today, the children had a fantastic time. Thank you for making the booking and visit so easy." Saplings Children’s Centre"It was lovely to see the young people achieving their own target in regards to the freedom of what wall to climb. We will definitely be back!" MK Youth Network

The Hummingbird Children’s Centre shared some feedback from parents who attended with their children:

"It was nice to be able to watch their child do something new and see the enjoyment on their faces, and the achievements that they made.""Was nice to see the children challenge themselves and push themselves past their comfort zone, and how proud of themselves they were.""Was nice to see the parents and children share a sense of pride.""Children made new relationships and in doing so they were able to have friendly challenges and encouragement between each other."

Are you looking to organise your group’s next activity?

Climb Quest Milton Keynes is a ‘fun’ climbing centre, uniquely suitable as an inclusive and engaging adventurous activity for all ages and abilities from 4 years plus. This fit comes from a combination of over 20 amazing looking walls that are suitable for all abilities and confidence levels, other specialist equipment and award-winning customer service and support from the Climb Quest team.

We are particularly proud of how inclusive the Climb Quest experience is for SEND climbers.The feedback from groups and schools has been fantastic, particularly around how positive the experience has been for building young people’s confidence.