The CEO of an environmental education charity, with a centre in Pembrokeshire, has wholeheartedly put his support behind a bill due to be discussed in the Senedd tomorrow.

The Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) Bill, introduced by Sam Rowlands MS, proposed a statutory duty on local authorities to ensure that all young people receiving maintained education are provided with the opportunity to experience residential outdoor education, for at least one week, at some stage during their school years.

The bill will also establish a statutory obligation for providers of maintained education to be allocated funding to enable them to do this.

The bill is due to be discussed in the Senedd plenary session tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday, November 29, and is a key moment for the development of the proposed bill.

Mark Castle, chief executive of the Field Studies Council, which runs a residential centre at Dale Fort says that the bill is ‘wholeheartedly’ welcome.

“We know that outdoor education is invaluable to children and young people in so many ways – it boosts their academic performance, improves ‘soft skills’ like leadership, teamwork and resilience, and helps to regulate mental health,” he said.

“The skills learned through outdoor education also open the door to a huge range of environmental careers, which many young people might never know about without the chance to experience a residential field trip.

“We wholeheartedly support Sam’s bid to embed outdoor learning into the curriculum in Wales and we look forward to seeing the bill become law.”