FAQs for Teachers/Leaders

To ensure we allocate rooms and instructors fairly, please be as accurate as possible when making a booking. We know that recruitment doesn’t always match aspiration, so please let us know as soon as possible. There are cancellation charges for number reductions within 8 weeks of the trip – please read our T&Cs carefully.

Our ‘Leave No Child Behind’ funding is available to support young people who due to family circumstances would otherwise not be able to join their class or group on the trip. Funding is based on a range of criteria, including free school meals. We have separate funding for Isle of Wight students and for Sea.Change and careers courses.
The school/group applies for funding, not the parent. Ask us for a funding application.

Yes, everyone is welcome at UKSA. Dietary, cultural and health considerations are not necessarily a barrier to enjoying a residential trip. Tell us in advance what support your group needs.

We can usually provide a full range of watersports in most weather conditions. If we have adverse weather while you are at UKSA we may need to alter the programme to keep your young people safe, but we will discuss this with you at the time.

Yes. Each group/school has their own accommodation, allocated mealtimes and separate activities. You won’t formally mingle with other groups, but you may meet in the dinner queue and could mingle in free time.

All accommodation is dorm rooms with bunk beds, sleeping between 4 and 8.
Rooms either have ensuite facilities or shared washrooms.
Every group has separate accommodation.

Yes. Every bed has a duvet and pillow (hollow fibre, not feather) with a sheet, duvet cover and pillowcase. The bedding is washed between visits in a commercial laundry at 80 degrees and ironed at over 100 degrees.

Teacher/leaders have separate bedrooms and bathrooms. These are twin rooms, but occupancy will depend on the number of leaders accompanying the group.
Leaders not taking part in activities can use the UKSA waterfront bar or common room in the Sea.Change building. Leaders feeling active can take advantage of a free daily early morning adults-only session in our indoor pool.
Cowes High Street is a 15-minute walk from UKSA, and the nearby cycle path is popular with walkers and runners. We need mobile numbers for any leaders going off site.

Our accommodation areas suit different sizes of group, so we allocate based on the group size and male-female split. If you have a preference, we’ll do our best to meet it, but we can never guarantee accommodation allocations.

We’ll use the day/evening activities you select on the Booking Form to build your trip programme. If we can’t deliver your preferred activities, we’ll talk with you about alternatives.

We ask all group leaders to manage student behaviour and to be actively involved during mealtimes and after hours in the dormitory.
Our staff manage safety and instruction on the water and during activity sessions. They’ll ask you to help with behavioural issues as you know the students best.

Group leaders can join in with watersports if we know in advance – we run on-water activities at a ratio of 1 instructor for 6 students – and that includes teachers.

We provide wetsuits, safety helmets and buoyancy aids for all water activities.
Participants need clothing that can get wet – a swimming costume, shorts and t-shirt or rash vest to wear under wetsuit, and a pair of secure wetsuit shoes or old trainers for wearing in the water.
We recommend that all clothes are labelled.

Bring two towels – one for watersports and one for showering.
Pack a plastic bag or dry bag for wet clothes for the trip home. A roll of bin bags is useful.
Everyone needs a water bottle.
If you want tea and coffee, bring a lidded mug.
Laminated name tags for wetsuit hangers.

Everything is provided at UKSA, so you don’t really need any money unless you want us to arrange a visit from the ice cream van. We have a vending machine and small selection of souvenirs.
Schools can choose whether to allow mobiles, games consoles and other electronics – we discourage expensive kit, but we don’t ban anything.

Watersports is not glamorous – please encourage everyone to leave jewellery at home and keep hairstyles suitable for wearing a helmet. False nails are likely to get broken!