Meridian Trust is leading the way nationally by embedding learning outside the classroom (LOtC) across all of its schools as part of a whole-trust approach to education. Guided by its core value of “Extending the Boundaries of Learning”, the Trust has made learning beyond the classroom an integral part of curriculum design, school culture and student experience.
Twenty-five Meridian Trust schools achieved the LOtC Mark in 2025 and all 36 schools are aiming to achieve the Mark by 2027, recognising their commitment to meaningful learning experiences beyond the classroom. Most recently two school, Nene Park Academy and North Cambridge Academy, successfully renewed their Gold Mark with another two schools, Ely College and NeneGate, improving from Silver to Gold. This demonstrates that LOtC is not viewed by the Trust as a one-off initiative, but as a sustainable and continually developing approach embedded into everyday practice.
Meridian Trust’s journey represents an outstanding example of a multi-academy trust working at scale with the Council for learning outside the classroom to develop a consistent, trust-wide culture of LOtC, benefitting students and staff alike.
Building a culture of LOtC across every school
Meridian Trust believes that education should reach far beyond textbooks and classroom walls. Across the Trust, schools provide opportunities for students to learn through educational visits, cultural experiences, community engagement, visiting speakers, competitions, residentials and enrichment activities on school grounds.
Importantly, this work is strategically embedded within trust policies and curriculum planning rather than sitting alongside it. The Trust’s vision explicitly commits every school to providing “a breadth of experience through the curriculum and beyond”, ensuring that all children can benefit from high-quality LOtC experiences regardless of background or circumstance.
Schools across the Trust have adapted this shared vision to reflect their own local contexts and communities. From local fieldwork to national visits, cultural experiences and residential adventures, students are encouraged to develop confidence, resilience, teamwork and independence through real-world learning experiences.
The Trust’s collaborative structure has also enabled schools to learn from one another, sharing good practice and building momentum collectively. This has created a strong network of staff champions who support and inspire colleagues across settings.
A journey of growth and achievement
In 2024, Meridian Trust celebrated a major milestone when 16 secondary and special schools achieved Bronze, Silver or Gold LOtC Mark awards.
The achievements included:
3 Gold LOtC Marks
12 Silver LOtC Marks
1 Bronze LOtC Mark
Since then, the Trust has continued to expand and strengthen its LOtC provision, with primary schools also progressing through the award framework. Trust-wide commitment has ensured that LOtC continues to evolve as part of school improvement and curriculum development.
Meridian Trust’s annual residential and adventure learning programmes further demonstrate the scale and ambition of its approach. In partnership with The Outward Bound Trust, students from across the Trust take part in transformative outdoor experiences designed to build resilience, teamwork and self-confidence.
The Trust has also invested in professional learning for staff through collaborative training and development opportunities, helping educators build confidence and expertise in delivering high-quality LOtC experiences.
“The Gold LOtC Mark showcases our strong commitment to providing students with not only an exceptional academic experience at Ely but one that allows our students the opportunity to develop skills away from the classroom. As a college we are proud of the rich variety of opportunity we offer our students from extra curricular fixtures, to international trips and visits. Since our previous Silver award we have continued to develop our offer and ensure that staff at the college are trained to provide the very best opportunities for learning away from the classroom whilst being supported to do this is a purposeful and safe manner.”
The impact of a whole-trust approach
By embedding LOtC into policy, practice and culture, Meridian Trust is seeing benefits across multiple areas of school life.
Schools report that learning beyond the classroom helps students:
- develop stronger engagement with learning
- build confidence and independence
- improve wellbeing and resilience
- strengthen teamwork and communication skills
- make meaningful connections between classroom learning and the wider world
The Trust’s approach also supports equity of opportunity by ensuring that all students, regardless of background, can access enriching experiences that broaden horizons and raise aspirations.
“At Nene Park Academy, we believe learning extends far beyond the four walls of the classroom. We continue to develop opportunities both within the curriculum and through wider enrichment experiences, making use of our school grounds, local area, and a wide range of trips and visits. These experiences have a significant impact on our students. They help to develop confidence, resilience, independence and teamwork, while also improving engagement, communication skills and cultural awareness. Learning outside the classroom gives students the opportunity to apply their learning in real-life contexts, discover new interests and challenge themselves in ways that support both their academic progress and personal development. For our staff and wider school community, the award recognises a culture of active, inclusive and inspiring learning that continues to grow and develop year on year.”
A Inspiring other schools and Trusts
Meridian Trust’s success demonstrates what is possible when learning outside the classroom is embedded strategically across a whole organisation. Rather than relying on isolated activities or enthusiastic individuals alone, the Trust has created a sustainable model where LOtC is valued as an essential part of education.
Meridian Trust shows how embedding LOtC strategically across curriculum, culture and policy can position schools to not only meet but exceed many of the expectations likely to form part of the expected enrichment framework.
Importantly, the Trust’s journey also highlights that schools do not need to approach these developments in isolation. The LOtC Mark framework provides a proven model of support to help schools adopt and embed a whole school approach to enrichment. The practical guidance, CPD and training, and progress tracker framework helps schools build a coherent whole school enrichment programme that supports quality, inclusion, safety, progression and most importantly, better outcomes for students present and future.
As national expectations around enrichment continue to grow, Meridian Trust offers a compelling example of how schools can build on the excellent practice they are already delivering through learning outside the classroom, using the LOtC Mark framework to develop and evidence a consistent, high-quality and sustainable enrichment offer for all students.
“The LOtC Mark has provided Meridian Trust with far more than an award — it has given us a clear framework to help organise, evaluate and strengthen the enrichment opportunities already taking place across our schools. As conversations around future enrichment entitlement continue to develop nationally, schools should feel reassured that they are likely already delivering many of these experiences. The LOtC Mark helps schools bring this together in a structured and strategic way, providing practical guidance, quality assurance and professional support to help develop provision further. For us as a Trust, the framework has supported consistency, reflection and continuous improvement across all our schools, while helping ensure that enrichment and learning outside the classroom remain purposeful, inclusive and high quality for every young person.”
Martin Campbell, Executive Principal, Meridian Trust
Find out more:
To find out more about the Learning Beyond programmes of support that we offer to schools, including the LOtC Mark, visit the Learning Beyond pages of the website.
