OUR VISION
That all young people have the opportunity to maximise their potential through outdoor learning
We aim to achieve this by
• Delivering the best outdoor educational training in the field
• Insuring 100% of funding is ring fenced and goes directly to your chosen project
• Assuring that every project is a unique and highly customised experience
• Evidence based work delivering tangible benefits and outcomes

OUR MODEL
The Challenger Trust is uniquely positioned to provide young people with the universal benefits of outdoor leadership and development training through experiential learning. We build a personal development programme with a core learning theme, where each course is progressive and where possible, linked to other appropriate awards or projects such as The Duke of Edinburgh Award. We seek collaborative approaches to extend the scope and effectiveness of our work.

OUR FRAMEWORK
“I hear, I forget; I see, I remember; I do, I understand”
We’ve taken this ancient Chinese philosophy as our mantra, which is where we get the term ‘experiential learning’, central to all our developmental programmes.
To ensure our courses are of maximum reward to young people and provide best practice in delivery and product innovation in the UK and internationally, we make reference to a number of research documents and key publications such as the Kolb Learning Cycle, the review of research in outdoor learning by Rickinson et al (2004), the Guidance by OFSTED (2004) and a consultation to develop the Education Outside the Classroom Manifesto (DfES, 2005), The National Curriculum (DfES,1995) and the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (QCA, 2000), Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003) and Youth Matters (DfES, 2005).

		OUR PEOPLE Our Board of Trustees is comprised of individuals with a mix of functional expertise and essential experience in our area of work…
		Charles Rigby, Chairman Charles is Founder and previously Chief Executive of World Challenge, a market leader in the provision of outdoor education and personal development programmes for young people. As a successful businessman, he is an expert in achieving value for money and working to contract and timelines.
		Jerry Witcher, Trustee Jerry is an outdoor education expert with over 25 years’ experience and leads our contracts committee, responsible for ensuring standards are met on behalf of all project stakeholders, particularly the sponsor.
		Andrew MacTavish, Trustee Andrew has been a successful head teacher for over 15 years and is highly experienced in promoting standards of excellence in schools and preparing young people for the world of work and responsible citizenship. He brings this vital educational expertise to the team to ensure all courses benefit the pupils and schools.
		Tim Hughes, Trustee Tim read law at Oxford and has extensive business experience at board level with eighteen years as Deputy Chairman and Chairman of a British Plc.. He has also farmed for many years and is an ardent champion of the countryside and the importance of rural communities. He believes that individuals should take responsibility for their actions and conduct themselves with integrity and compassion.
		Max Bilsborough, Trustee Max Bilsborough was appointed Head-teacher of Burnham Upper School in Slough in 2006, just as the School was sliding into Special Measures. Under his leadership, the school came out of special measures ahead of schedule with inspectors recognising the impact of school leadership, the school was latterly identified as part of the “National Challenge” group by the DFES in July 2008 and GCSE results in 2009 showed a doubling of the 5 A*-C inc. Eng & Maths over two years. This was recognised by the DFES as a top ten performer over two years, with the third most improved school over one year. Previously, Max was Deputy Headteacher with responsibility for Behaviour for Learning at Northolt High School (Ealing) and before that he was Head of Sixth Form at John Hampden Grammar School in High Wycombe.