Organising a sixth form/high school expedition

We have made starting an Opwall expedition as easy as possible. Teachers can launch an expedition in a few stages.

One: Express an interest

Download or request a copy of the Operation Wallacea Sixth Form/High School Programme 2012/13. You then need to contact your regional office to set up an initial school visit. You can do this by Expressing an Interest or by contacting the relevant office at the details below. We can then arrange for one of our expedition advisors to come and see you at a time that is convenient for you to explain what Operation Wallacea is all about.

Contact your regional Opwall office

UK & Ireland:  Monday – Friday 9:00am to 5:30pm

+44 (0) 1790 763194                        info@opwall.com

USA:  Monday – Friday 9:00am to 5:30pm

+1(973) 9200487            usa@opwall.com

Canada:  Monday – Friday 9:00am to 5:30pm

+1(905) 2312905           canada@opwall.com

South Africa:  Monday – Friday 9:00am to 5:30pm

+27123460272            southafrica@opwall.com

Australia:  Monday – Friday 9:00am to 5:30pm

+61 (42) 0379005           australia@opwall.com  

Two: Choose an expedition

Our expedition advisors will be able to help you select an expedition destination that matches your particular interests

Three: Hold places

Having met our expedition advisor we can hold places for you on the expedition of your choice with no financial obligation.

Four: Recruit the students

We will arrange with you a date for an Opwall team member to come and present to any interested students and their parents about the proposed expedition. This will be a staff member from Opwall or a teacher from your area familiar with the expeditions and process involved.

Five: Fundraising

If the group wants to fundraise for part or all of the expedition costs, Opwall will arrange for a professional fundraiser to meet with the interested students as soon as possible after the evening presentation. The purpose of the meeting is for the fundraiser to explain what activities, events and other fundraising ideas schools have used to raise their fundraising target and the likely income from each of these activities. 

School expeditions need to be accompanied by teachers from the school. The main organiser does not need to be the one to join the group but the group can't travel without an appropriate teacher or adult.  There is one free place (does not include flights) for a teacher for each group of 10 paying students or part thereof.  For example, if there is a group of 18 students interested, there will be 1.8 free teacher places, i.e. one free teacher and one would pay 20% of the expedition costs.  The role of the teachers is to ensure the groups get to the start and end points of the expeditions safely.  During expedition, the Opwall staff are responsible for the activities and safety of the group and the teachers join in with the research programmes and are responsible only for pastoral issues relating to their group.

Occasionally, there are a small group of students from a school who want to join the an expedition, but there are no teachers available to accompany the group from their school.  In these cases, Opwall may be able to organise for them to be incorporated into another school group under the auspices of a teacher from that school or on occasions can also appoint a teacher to specifically look after the group in the field. If, however, there are no teachers willing to take the group, unfortunately the school students will need to wait until they are at university and can join as university students.  Please note that school students cannot join the research expeditions unless they are part of a team led by a teacher.

Most groups take between 10 and 20 months to organise their expedition from the initial meeting to going into the field.