Thousands of pupils in England will have access to free school trips following the lockdowns of the pandemic, it has been announced.
Train company Avanti West Coast will offer free school trips on its mainland route to 5,000 pupils aged four to 18 as part of the scheme, enabling children to visit different parts of the country after being denied the opportunities of an excursion during the pandemic. George the Poet, the spoken word artist who is a “Culture Conductor” for the programme’s “Feel Good Field Trips”, said: “A lot of young people have been cooped up in a house for two years.
“Apart from the obvious challenges that that brings, it also has denied them of an opportunity to travel and see more of the country, and when you’re young it’s even more important that you get these experiences,” he said. George recently took a school group from Manchester to London as part of the scheme, where 10 pupils aged 10-11 worked with the poet to create their own spoken word poem, later recorded together at Soho Sonic Studios in Camden.
