Schools & Universities

Schools and universities book us right through the academic year: reward days and Year 6 leavers afternoons, school fairs and sports days, boarding school Sunday fundays, college applicants' days, and university freshers fairs and summer balls. What these events share is a fixed timetable, a site the site team knows inside out, and usually a procurement route that wants the paperwork before the booking is signed. The cards below run from primary-school kit to the pieces a university summer ball wants, and the notes explain how the day itself decides what to pick.

Primary and secondary schools

Throughput decides the kit on a school booking: the Sweeper takes eight pupils a round, the Interactive Play System runs two to four players through minute-long heats, Laser Tag takes up to ten a game, and the two-lane Boot Camp Challenge races pairs side by side. Briefing and changeovers take time out of the timetable, so it helps us to know how many pupils need a turn and how long each group has. Age matters too: the Sweeper is listed for ages ten and over, and we check the actual year groups against each piece, because "school age" isn't one useful number.

A Havant school's reward day took the Big Red Assault Course and inflatable axe throwing, an end-of-year event in Southampton ran Laser Tag, and a repeat booking in Twickenham had the Big Red course back alongside the football speed cage. School fairs work differently again, with visitors arriving across a whole afternoon, and the 3 in 1 sports inflatable and the garden games suit that come-and-go format. The school-specific detail, from sports days to proms, sits on the school event hire page.

Boarding schools and Sunday fundays

A lot of our term-time school work lands on a Sunday, the slot boarding schools fill with a funday while the houses run their own weekend schedule. Ludgrove School has had the combat tag archery out two years running, and archery suits the schools that want the target sports without the running about. LVS Ascot books us for the boarders' events through the year, Walhampton Preparatory School had the zorbing and the Interactive Play System, and Eton College's boarders fun day ran the multi sports arena and crazy golf. The school keeps its own staff on the pastoral side. The target sports and the bigger inflatable rides always come with one of our operators; smaller pieces like the crazy golf or the Interactive Play System can be run by your own staff, or we can quote one of our team alongside if you would rather have us run the whole thing. Sundays book through the same process as a weekday reward day.

Colleges and universities

The further and higher education calendar runs from autumn applicants' and taster days through freshers fairs, the December and February balls, and the leavers and summer ball window from May to July. Sparsholt College books us across that whole cycle, Andover College has had the magic selfie mirror out across three days of applicants' events, and the summer ball at the University of Chichester ran the rodeo bull with the axe throwing and the Interactive Play System. RGS Guildford, Reigate Grammar and Godalming College all took leavers kit in the same fortnight, the University of Southampton had a Wild West rodeo night and an end-of-year staff party, and City of Portsmouth College ran the Sweeper, the dance machine and a photo booth across two welcome days.

For the evening events, the surf simulator, the dance machine, the 80s retro arcade and the photo booths are the regular picks, and the bungee run and party marquees cover the freshers fairs where stalls need cover and something active beside them. The college and university detail is on the colleges and universities page, and freshers fairs and accommodation socials have their own student and freshers page.

What the procurement file needs

Every member of the team we send is enhanced-DBS registered, first-aid trained and has passed the RPII operator and supervisor examinations, which is the bit schools and universities ask about first. The inflatables are PIPA-tagged and inspected annually by our in-house RPII inspector, the electrics are PAT-tested, and cover runs to £10 million public liability with the additional licensed-premises insurance the balls in hotels and student unions need. The insurance certificate, risk assessments and method statements come attached to the quote. We've run the business from our Havant unit since 2002 and the fleet and crew are all our own.

When you ask for a quote, send the school or campus, the event type, the date, the year groups or student body, expected numbers and the timetable, plus the site details: indoor or outdoor space, surface, access gates and power. If the booking goes through procurement, ask for the paperwork at the same time and it's sent with the quote email.