About Us - The Outward Bound Trust
The Outward Bound Trust is an educational charity and the UK's leading provider of bursary-assisted outdoor learning. We aim to help young people realise their potential through learning in the wild. We create a supportive and challenging environment in which young people can learn about themselves and see clearly, perhaps for the first time, what they might truly be capable of achieving in life.
Our Social Impact
In our second Social Impact Report, we present the results of a continued effort to measure the difference our courses really make to young people. The purpose is not to paint a glossy picture of one life-changing experience after another, but to give an open and honest account of how young people benefit from our courses.
For more information, access our Social Impact Report website.
Our History
The Outward Bound Trust was founded in 1941 by Lawrence Holt, Chairman of the Blue Funnel Shipping Line, and the renowned educationalist Kurt Hahn. It was intended as a survival school for merchant seamen who might find themselves shipwrecked and forced to cope with all manner of situations and conditions in any environment in the world.
After the war, it was felt by many that the success of the school was in more than just teaching survival skills. The Outward Bound programme could also, in peacetime, be a valuable means of making individuals more independent, self aware and able to cope for themselves. The lessons learned have, from the start, been applied to teamwork and leadership.
Listen below to some short clips of Kurt Hahn speaking about the philosophies behind The Outward Bound Trust.
Outward Bound Generations
Over a million people have now benefited from the life lessons and survival skills of The Outward Bound Trust and the lessons learned are as valuable and relevant today as they where all those years ago. Aware of the importance of such memories and skills gained by participants since 1941, The Trust has launched 'Outward Bound Generations'. Click here to learn more and to add your Outward Bound story.
