welcome to basecamp

Welcome from Em, Programme Manager

“We set Basecamp up to give young people a chance to discover their inner potential, strength and self-belief. Through epic outdoor adventures, inspiring moments, new friendships and incredible experiences, Basecamp will take you on a journey of self-discovery and self-belief that will set you up for life. We can’t wait to welcome you on board!”

Em Rowntree

Two boys are outdoors in a forested area, chopping a fallen tree. One boy is crouched and holding the trunk with a tool, while the other boy is standing and assisting. The ground is covered with fallen leaves.
A group of people wearing red jackets, yellow helmets, and safety gear standing on rocks next to a flowing river in a forested canyon, preparing to raft or canyon. Water cascades down a small waterfall behind them, and lush green foliage surrounds the scene.

“so. much. fun.”

“the best thing I’ve ever done.”

“i had the best time, if you get a chance to do Basecamp, take it!”

"We always do the coolest things on Basecamp, stuff I never would have imagined doing."

Group of children and adults outdoors on a sunny day, cheerfully posing with raised hands, wearing backpacks and casual hiking or outdoor clothing, with green trees and a blue sky in the background.

What exactly is Basecamp?

basecamp is a 1-year programme taking you on epic outdoor adventure trips, to build your confidence, resilience, hope and relationships. discover New friendships, skills and moments of inspiration to last a lifetime.

The Basecamp Journey:

The Basecamp journey starts at the end of Year 7 and spans the whole of Year 8. There’s several steps before we go away overnight, including two epic day trips to help you get to know each other. The programme looks at 6 modules, each of which includes a fun skills workshop delivered in school by Basecamp and an epic 3-day adventure trip.

A timeline infographic depicting the program schedule from initial referrals, taster day, sign-up process, parent Q&A, launch day, and the basecamp journey, followed by various workshops and trips leading to graduation, organized over two years.

  • Skills Workshops

    Before each Adventure Trip, the Basecamp team come into your school to host a skills workshop on that module. For example, if the module is Resilience & Determination, we’ll spend a few hours in school exploring this through games, activities, conversations and speakers. These sessions mean that when you go on the Adventure Trip, you’ll have a foundation of knowledge and can be thinking about what the module means to you in reality. They are also key to keeping our sense of Basecamp community going. They’ll always be fun, snack-filled sessions and sometimes they’ll be outside if the weather is good.

  • Adventure Trips

    Our Adventure Trips are for seeing what we covered in the Skills Workshops come to life and turning our big talk into action. Each trip’s activities and adventures will be based on the module we’re looking at. So if the theme is The Fear Factor, we might take on an epic abseil or a night hike. Over the course of the year you’ll jump into plunge pools, abseil down cliffs, scramble up waterfalls, climb mountains and start to really discover what it means to believe in yourself and push yourself out of your comfort zone. You’ll spend evenings round the campfire, make new friends and above all, have a blast and make memories to last a lifetime.

A group of people camping in a snowy landscape at night, sitting around a campfire with cooking pots, with tents and a mountain in the background.

When you join us on a Basecamp Programme you’ll become part of a Basecamp Huddle, which is like a family of 7-8 young people. Huddles are led by one of our trained Adventure Youth Coaches. On Adventure Trips, we’ll gather in our Huddles before dinner and use the time to reflect on the theme of the trip and our learnings together, through informal coaching, games and conversation. It’s time to celebrate, shout each other out, get to know each other better and ask for individual support if you want it.

Basecamp Huddles

‘My huddle leader made me feel welcome and and like I could actually trust people. I saw what other people were going through and started to look out for them at school. It's nice to chat about the day too instead of just forgetting about it, I like that.’ - Sophie, Age 12

‘I always liked going around the table and shouting out everyone’s achievments. When someone says those things to you it makes you feel really good about yourself, like when I did an abseil I was really scared of.’ - Sam, Age 12

‘At the start I thought it’d be like really deep talking about my feelings, and I didn’t want to do that with people I didn’t know. But I could speak when I wanted and it was good to see how what we’d done would be helpful in the rest of our life. It made me think about my actual life.’ - Rajan, Age 13

basecamp badges

When you’re part of the Basecamp Programme, you’ll have the opportunity to win badges and prizes. Each theme has a badge and to win the badge, you need to submit a sentence or two describing what you’ve learnt about that theme and why you should be awarded. There’s prizes for certain amount of badges earned and these can even be linked up with your schsools’ badging system.

A circular badge with the text 'BASECAMP' at the top and 'RESILIENCE & DETERMINATION' at the bottom. The badge features a mountain scene with pine trees, a setting or rising sun, and flying birds. The years 2023 and 2024 are on either side of the badge, indicating a time span.
Round badge with mountain scenery, sun, and birds, with text 'BASCAMP' at the top, '2023' on the left, '2024' on the right, and 'Strengths & Challenges' at the bottom.
Circular badge with mountain landscape, trees, a setting sun, and flying birds. Text reads "BasEcamp 2023 The Fear Factor 2024."

still got questions?

  • On Basecamp Adventure Trips you’ll get to experience a wide-range of epic outdoor activities. Here’s a list of some of the things we might get upto:

    • Kayaking

    • Climbing mountains

    • Abseiling

    • Cliff Jumping

    • Caving

    • High Ropes

    • Climbing

    • Hiking

    • Gorge Scrambling

    • Stand Up Paddleboarding

    • Treasure Hunts

    • Bushcraft

    • Wild Swimming

    • Outdoor Cooking

    • Shelter Building

  • You’ll be with other students from your school, as well as students from another school. Some of our ex-Basecampers have said their favourite part of the programme was making new friends from the other school. Our staff will do everything they can to make sure people get to know each other without it being overwhelming and we’ll always try to put you in rooms and huddles with at least one friend or person you know.

  • We encourage everyone to leave their phones at home during a residential. If this feels too far however, you are allowed to bring it for the bus journey there and back. It will be handed in as you arrive and you will be given access to it for a short period of time at least once on the trip. This can sound nerve-wracking, but most people get used to it quite quickly and really enjoy the felling of getting away and being in a little Basecamp bubble!

  • We stay in Youth Hostels. These are big houses in the middle of the countryside run by the Youth Hostel Association. They have dorm rooms with bunk beds in. each one is different but the rooms usually have 3-8 people in. It’s not like staying in a 5* Hotel, but they’re lovely and clean and comfy. We eat our breakfast and dinner there too as it’s our base for the whole trip.

  • Perhaps you’ve been put forward for Basecamp by someone at school and you’re wondering whether you want to sign up. Well, your teacher will have put a lot of thought into who to put forward to the programme and potentially had to choose between lots of young people.

    If they’ve put you forward for a Taster Day, it’s because they’re a big fan of you and really see your potential. They believe you’ll get a lot from the programme and have the right attitude to take lots from it. By having a fun break, making new friends and doing things that push you out of your comfort zone and build your confidence and resilience, they think you’ll really benefit from the programme.

  • It is possible and normal that you might get homesick during your stay. You’ll be able to talk to people back home and there’s always lots of kind and understanding staff about and they’ll check-in on you in your room in the evening to see how your doing.

    Your days will be packed full of adventure and fun so hopefully you’ll be having so much fun that you don’t feel homesick, but remember Basecamp is all about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and being brave - so hang in there, it’s all part of the journey!