SurvivalAcademy
Real outdoor challenge that builds confidence, resilience and teamwork, getting young people off their screens, out of their comfort zone, and proud of what they can do. Along the way they earn real-world skills and recognised qualifications they carry into later life.
Built for
Every Child.
The Survival Academy gives young people real, safe outdoor challenge, building confidence, resilience and teamwork through hands-on skills they cannot learn at a desk. Delivered in partnership with Bear Grylls Survival Academy and led by Bear Grylls-accredited instructors, every session is structured, safe and designed to stretch young people in the right way.
It's designed for every child, especially those who would benefit most from a confidence boost, and the skills and recognised qualifications they build are theirs to carry into later life.
A Journey
of Growth.
The Survival Academy is built as a spiral curriculum. Every age group follows the same journey, with each term revisiting and deepening the last, challenge calibrated to their stage, so skills and confidence compound across the year. For the fullest journey, we recommend all three terms.
Foundations & Core Skills
Building the fundamentals, the core skills, mindset and confidence to begin.
Build & Apply Under Challenge
Applying those skills under real challenge, and growing through it.
Master, Lead & Celebrate
Leading others, mastering the skills, and celebrating their achievement.
What Your Child Earns
Through real challenges that nurture resilience, problem-solving and leadership, young people develop the foundational skills that set them up for success in life.
Bear Grylls Survival Academy Awards
Nationally and internationally recognised awards, earned Bronze to Platinum and delivered by accredited Bear Grylls Survival Academy instructors.
Microcredentials
Digital badges that evidence real, usable life skills as your child develops them: leadership, resilience, problem-solving. Verifiable proof they can point to for university and job applications.
EDGE Passport
A secure digital record of every award, credential and achievement, growing alongside your child as a permanent body of evidence.
Additional Opportunities
Access to camps, expeditions, experiences and future EDGE programmes as the journey continues.
The EDGE Passport
The EDGE Passport is your child's digital record for life, capturing everything they earn and experience across the programme: awards, credentials, skills and leadership milestones, all in one place that grows with them.
It's built to bring parents on the journey too. Follow the curriculum, see progress as it happens, and stay connected through in-platform updates and messaging, so you're part of every step.
Children can even submit what they do out in the wild, the adventures and challenges they take on beyond the session with their family and friends, adding it to their own record of achievement.
And it's only the beginning. We're building an online library of resources and classes to support the curriculum, with much more to come.
Accessible on phone, tablet and desktop.
More Than Safe.
Safety and safeguarding are part of our ethos. What sets our Survival Academy apart is the calibre of how every session is led, coached and accredited.
Bear Grylls-Accredited
Every session is led by qualified, Bear Grylls-accredited instructors, delivering in line with your school's values.
In School, and Beyond
Core sessions delivered in school, with optional, curriculum-linked activities at local venues.
Instruction & Coaching
Trained professionals who instruct and coach, developing your child, not simply watching over them.
Region-Ready Standards
Safeguarding, accreditation and risk management aligned to the standards of each region we operate in.
Register Your Interest for the Survival Academy
Secure your child's place for Term 1, AY 2026/27. Places are limited. Register your interest now and our team will be in touch.
Register your Interest
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Common
Questions
Everything parents need to know before enrolling. If your question isn't answered here, get in touch and our team will be happy to help.
Enquire NowNo. The Survival Academy is designed for every child, especially those who'd benefit from a confidence boost. It's about character, confidence and new skills to become a leader one day, not just the outdoors.
Sessions start from AED 225, with flexible payment across the three terms. Your final termly fee is confirmed with your school, as it depends on how many weeks they run the programme.
GEMS Wellington - Dubai Hills ran our pilot in Term 2, AY 25/26 and rated it highly. 100% of the surveyed parents rated it positively, and over 90% of the students in testing improved in wellbeing, confidence, leadership and resilience. In the educators' own words, "exactly what our school is looking for to help develop young leaders," and "an easy, ready-to-use framework from Bear Grylls for teachers to follow."
Weekly, within participating schools, from Term 1 September 2026. Days and times vary by school.
Included: weekly sessions, expert instruction and coaching, an EDGE-issued T-shirt, awards and EDGE Passport access. Camps, expeditions and wider ecosystem experiences are available separately and are clearly communicated as part of the journey.
We'll always try to catch your child up. As each term builds on the last, we can't place children in later terms without key foundations. In exceptional circumstances we'll explore catch-up support, at an additional cost.
Just their EDGE-issued T-shirt, provided on enrolment, no specialist equipment required.
The two programmes complement each other. Survival Academy builds confidence, resilience and outdoor skills from Foundation Stage, preparing children for the self-directed Duke of Edinburgh's Award from age 14. While it does not carry UCAS points, the Bear Grylls Awards and EDGE Passport provide a verifiable record of valuable life skills increasingly recognised by schools and universities.