A petition by campaigners calling for residential educational centres to be given \u00a310m from the Welsh Government has passed 1,000 signatures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Campaigners say that these centres have been unable to open in any meaningful way since March 2020, when the UK went into lockdown due to coronavirus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the rest of the country unlocked in the Summer, the UK Government’s Department for Education issued advice that schools should not carry out overnight stays. This has meant residential educational centres have been unable to host parties of schoolchildren for close to a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sara Jones runs the family-owned Rhos y Gwaliau Outdoor Education Centre in North Wales, which usually hosts schoolchildren from all over the country, including from southern cities. She created the petition and now campaigns with #SaveOutdoorEd, a national campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We feel effectively we have been closed since March 2020 – 98% of income lost says it all really,” she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“So, sadly, we are seeing one or two centres close permanently almost every week and this provision won’t be replaced.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n