WRITING produced by Cowling Primary School children received the royal seal of approval after headteacher Sue Marshall was invited to Buckingham Palace.

Mrs Marshall, headteacher of the Gill Lane school, was invited to attend an Education Forum at Buckingham Palace on behalf of the Outward Bound Trust. Year 5 and Year 6 pupils spend a week at the Trust’s Ullswater centre each year taking part in a range of adventurous activities in the Lake District.

In their writing the children told Prince Andrew, chairman of the Outward Bound Trust, about how they had benefited from the residential and the difference it had made in improving their self-confidence, independence, perseverance and team working skills.

The forum was held in the palace's Throne Room where educationalists and entrepreneurs joined forces to hear how adventurous outdoor learning equips young people with valuable skills for education, work and life helping them to become more confident, more effective and more capable.

Educationalist Sir Anthony Seldon spoke about the dangers of narrowing the curriculum and urged teachers to ensure they provided a rich curriculum full of opportunities.

Explorer and BBC presenter Paul Rose led a panel discussion with Dr Saima Rana, principal of the Westminster Academy, Mat Pullen, managing director of AkzoNobel and explorer Leo Holding. Rukayyah Yusuf also spoke about her journey to the UK as a Somali refugee and how she had benefited immensely from an Outward Bound residential which had helped her understand that if she pushed herself beyond her comfort zone she could make a very successful and happy life in the UK.

Mrs Marshall said: “It was a real honour to represent Cowling Primary at the event and to hear how the work of the trust has made a difference to the lives of so many people across the UK. Prince Andrew had asked for feedback about the benefits of Outward Bound and I was able to present him with a collection of our children’s work and photographs from our visit to Ullswater. In assembly the next morning the children were so pleased to hear that their work had been seen by a Prince in a real palace.

“We are grateful to all our families who support and believe in the benefits of primary residentials. When you are halfway up a Lake District mountain or struggling to row across Ullswater, with the wind blowing and the rain lashing, the children have to find the resolve within themselves to keep going. They learn to get along with others and discover just how capable they are in a way which cannot be replicated in the classroom. At Cowling we very much believe in the Outward Bound philosophy that 'we are all better than we know'. Children are full of undiscovered potential and helping them to realise that potential is the goal of education.”