A Small Test. A Big Realisation
29 April 2026 By: Shahab Mossavat – Comms Adviser and Compass Coordinator, Gapuma Group Almost a week on from our Outward Bound adventure with twenty-three Year 8 and 9 pupils from West London Free School in Snowdonia, I sat down and tried to recall every one of the eleven youngsters in my group. I could. And I’d wager Stephen Harris, Gapuma’s ambassador to the other twelve, could do exactly the same. That may sound like a modest achievement. But in my experience, it is a reliable indicator of something deeper – that what happened at Ogwen Cottage last week was not merely a school trip. It was, for all of us, a genuinely transformative experience. A lifetime memory. I hope it proves the same for every one of those young people. The evidence suggests it will. Research consistently shows that outdoor adventure education produces lasting improvements in confidence, resilience and the belief that difficulty can be overcome. Those qualities don’t evaporate on the train back to London. But at Gapuma, we want to do more than show up once a year for an adventure and then disappear. That isn’t a relationship – it’s a visit. Which is why I’m pleased to share that we are moving forward with our Compass Scheme in partnership with West London Free School. Building on the school’s existing outdoor education culture – both through its annual Outward Bound programme, which Gapuma sponsors, and its Duke of Edinburgh cohort – Compass is designed to create genuine apprenticeship opportunities for their outdoor learning graduates. The aim is simple: to take young people who have already shown courage, commitment and resilience in the mountains, and give them a pathway into professional life that recognises and builds on exactly those qualities. This is what meaningful corporate partnership looks like – not a cheque and a logo, but a long-term investment in young people who have already proved they are worth investing in. Watch this space.
Final day in Snowdonia – and what a week it’s been
24 April 2026 In today’s video, Joe Doherty, an Outward Bound Trust senior instructor sums it up perfectly: 23 pupils from West London Free School who showed grit, courage, and real character in the face of every challenge thrown at them. From waterfall swims to mountain scrambles, abseils to wild camping – they didn’t just take part, they stepped up. Every single time. Huge credit to Hamizah Ahmad and Angus Kelly for their leadership and support throughout. And to the pupils: you leave not just tired, but transformed. The journey home starts today. The impact will last much longer.
Somewhere in Snowdonia, Wednesday morning. Muddy boots. No signal until now.
22 April 2026 I’m Stephen Harris, and I coordinate Gapuma Group’s annual sponsorship of West London Free School’s Outward Bound programme. This week, that sponsorship became very real indeed. Twenty-three Year 8 and 9 pupils are with us at Ogwen Cottage – a National Trust property in the heart of Snowdonia, leased by the Outward Bound Trust as a residential centre. Alongside them are Hamizah Ahmad, the Geography teacher who organises the school’s outdoor education programme including its Duke of Edinburgh scheme, and Angus Kelly, another Geography teacher drafted in at the last minute as a replacement supervisor. They have been extraordinary. So have the children. Monday: the children arrived at lunchtime, and by mid-afternoon were already out – jogging, then swimming beneath a waterfall in the river. Tuesday: scrambling – unaided, no ropes, no harness – 250 metres up the face of a small mountain. Tough doesn’t begin to cover it. Today: abseiling, then an overnight wild camp in the mountains. Tomorrow morning: gorge climbing up a waterfall. Friday: the train from Bangor back to London, and a different group of young people than the ones who arrived. That last point matters. A systematic review of 58 UK outdoor education studies found that almost all interventions produced measurable positive outcomes for young people. The Outward Bound Trust’s own data shows that 76% of participants finish their course with improved self-confidence, and – crucially – 88% of teachers report lasting improvements in pupils’ resilience three months later. Watch a thirteen-year-old haul themselves up a rock face they were convinced was beyond them, and those statistics stop being abstract. This is why Gapuma Group is proud to bring West London Free School here every year. Education that changes lives doesn’t always happen in a classroom.