Explorer to take schoolchildren on Arctic trip

Mark Wood has worked with pupils and teachers from Sherbourne Fields Special School for a decade

A group of schoolchildren will be taken on a polar expedition by an explorer who has previously reached the geographic North Pole.

Mark Wood, originally from Coventry, has been working with the city's Sherbourne Fields Special School for the past 10 years, helping students climb the highest peaks in the UK.

"Ten years later I decided to challenge them even more and through my own logistics in the Arctic I managed to set up a polar expedition for them," said Mr Wood.

The trip to Svalbard is set to take place in April 2025.

"I'm doing this because I changed my life around just from being in the Arctic," he said.

"I just saw how beautiful and incredible and surreal the Arctic is, and it basically changed who I was and the direction I was going in, so I always like to take people to these places."

The school is an all ages special school for pupils with a broad spectrum of need, including physical disabilities and learning needs.

'Pretty gnarly area'

"These young people are so strong and the teachers are incredible," Mr Wood said.

"The whole area, the environment, is intense to begin with and then you have to do the challenges involved."

The trip will take take place during the warmer months.

"I don't want to torture these guys, so we're not going in the cold of winter," he explained.

"But it's a pretty gnarly area to go to."

The trip will also be captured in a documentary.

It will be a "showcase of young people doing extraordinary things," Mr Wood added.