Brighton, East Sussex -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/01/2013 -- An English cultural preservation agency is offering £120,000 a year to UK school children to fund school outings, such as the trips to cultural heritage sites around the country. These sorts of excursions are offered by companies like Equity School Travel, and both the staff behind such organisations as well as the teachers themselves are delighted by this injection of financial support. The new scheme is looking to benefit over 30,000 children alone, and it hopes to be supported by donations and legacies.

The programme is a response to the decline in the number of school trips in recent years. More than 10,000 non fee-paying schools in the UK will be able to apply to the scheme to help change that panorama. A spokesman for the agency said that whilst there were 478,500 visitors to cultural heritage sites in 2002 (the majority of these visitors were children), that number fell heavily by 28 percent to just 345,000 in 2012. He added that whilst the majority of these destinations are often free of charge for children, the cost of transportation to the sites is an issue that often holds schools back from organizing such trips or hiring the services of companies such as Equity School Travel

People are much more likely to visit cultural heritage sites as an adult if they have previously visited them in their childhood, and Education Secretary Michael Gove has welcomed the programme, saying that tens of thousands of children will now be able to do just that, and be inspired by the sites that played such a significant role in shaping the history of England.

The general secretary for the National Union of Teachers, Christine Blower, also gave praise to the new initiative, though she also said that the main causes of schools being unable to afford these trips were government budget cuts. She added that whilst schools may be able to ask for donations, parents cannot do so, leaving many children unable to benefit from the round the clock educational experiences that school trips like this can provide. That is why the services of Equity School Travel and other companies of its ilk are so important, as they offer an alternative to school-funded field trips.

About Equity School Travel
Equity School Travel offers educational trips worldwide, with a wide variety of subject matters. Find them at http://www.equityschooltravel.co.uk/

For Media Contact:
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