Adventure & Leadership

At Loretto, we strongly believe that adventure and outdoor learning play an important role in the development of children and young people.

Nurturing children's natural curiosity

The School’s spacious, leafy campus, situated next to the local beach and nature reserve, offers children the opportunity to take part in many adventurous activities from an early age, when their sense of wonder and curiosity is the strongest.

Pre-Schoolers and Junior pupils benefit from dedicated time at Forest School. Led by qualified Forest School Leaders, these sessions offer children plenty of opportunities to play freely and explore in an open, yet safe and managed environment.

Exploring beyond

At Senior School, a rich Adventure and Leadership Programme reflects our emphasis on the value of outdoor pursuits, exploration and physical fitness.

The Adventure programme for Second Form includes an induction team building camp at an outdoor educational centre. All pupils from the year group gather, meet their tutors, and participate in a range of challenging activities. This facilitates our Second Formers' integration, and helps tutors build up a rapport with their pupils outside of the classroom.

In Third Form, pupils can take part in an Adventure trip during Autumn half term holidays. The trip generally takes place on Scotland's west coast and offers an opportunity to experience outdoor activities such as gorge walking, coasteering, wild swimming, climbing a Munro or abseiling.

Our through-school Adventure programme also include term-time sport activities such as indoor and outdoor rock climbing, canoeing and stand-up paddle boarding. Some of these activities can be chosen as part of the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Awards Scheme.

Loretto has a strong participation in the DofE Scheme, for Silver and Gold Awards. These non-competitive, personal challenges are achievement-focused and require persistence and commitment. Pupils devise their own programme within one of five sections: service to individuals and the community, personal skills development, physical recreation, team expeditions, or residential projects. The DofE Scheme helps develop many life skills, including planning and time management, problem solving, communication, giving back, team work and leadership.

Our School offers additional experience in a range of skills and challenges, designed to foster a sense of adventure. This includes the Loretto Borealis Expeditionary Society, which is for Sixth Form pupils who plan and drive ambitious science-led research and exploration projects in boreal areas. In the past years, members of the Society have undertaken major mountaineering expeditions in Greenland, Iceland and Northern Norway.

The Combined Cadet Force (CCF)

Also promoting the values of service and physical fitness, Loretto has a thriving CCF, with both a Royal Navy (RN) Section and an Army Section. All Fourth Form cadets initially join the Army Section in which they can choose to remain or join the RN Section in upper years. Our disciplined programme enables young people to develop powers of leadership through learning basic military skills and training.

The Loretto Contingent runs Summer Camps for both the RN and Army Sections, which enables our cadets to build self-reliance, resourcefulness and endurance. These camps also offer the opportunity to experience and learn new skills through dinghy sailing and power boating activities in the RN Section, and adventurous activities in the Army Section. Cadets can also join our biennial adventurous training expedition – a self-sufficient nine-day hill walking and canoeing journey. In recent years, the expedition has taken our cadets to South Norway and Central Sweden, and continues to be a popular adventurous trip. 

The Loretto CCF has a Pipes & Drums section which practises regularly, competes at national level, and represents the School at prestigious events.