What we offer
“When you book with Cohort you’re buying understanding and a personal service, as well as all the things you’re actually paying for.”
Phil Andrews, Sackville School
In this section
Supported, self-led residentials | Our location | Accommodation | Capacity Layout & Access | Safety & Security | Catering | Facilities | Communal areas | Free planning trip | Our green ethos
Supported, self-led residentials
Meet “Lee”. Lee Strickland is the Inspirational Trips Co-ordinator and has been working with school groups, helping them plan and administer their trip, since inception in 2015. Lee and her team will take the headache out of your planning:
- Sharing insider tips and advising on your itinerary
- Sourcing transport quotes and recommending companies
- Checking availabilty of workshops / educators
- Administrating all your food options
- Being there on arrival and supporting you throughout your stay
Lee is available on 01736 791664 (Option 1).
Our location
Cohort is in the privileged position of being in the centre of St Ives within walking distance of everything (for even the littlest legs).
The marker shows where Cohort is in relation to the coast (5 minutes walk to the nearest beach), the town, Tate St Ives and the Hepworth Sculpture Garden.
The car markers show where we are in relation to car parks; two of which have coach and minibus parking. There is space outside the hostel for coaches to pick up and drop off students if they have bulky luggage.
Read more about transport and getting to St Ives.
Accommodation
4, 6 and 8 pod bed dorm rooms. Every pod has its own USB port, plug socket, reading light and privacy curtain as well as its own under-bed locker.
Private rooms for single and twin occupancy. All private rooms use shared facilities but have their own hand basin.
In all rooms there are plenty of hooks, plug sockets and storage space. For photos and more information visit the Rooms page found on our tourist site.
Capacity, Layout & Access
Our maximum capacity is 60 people (inc. staff). The breakdown is as follows: 1 x 8 bed dorm room; 7 x 6 bed dorm rooms; 1 x 4 bed dorm room; 3 x private rooms.
We have 3 x shower blocks – 2 x single sex and 1 x unisex. Our experienced team will help you configure the hostel to suit your group, whether you have exclusive use or are sharing with others. Download our floorplan for more information (not to scale).
Our Grade II listed building mean we cannot accommodate guests who are wholly wheelchair bound, however we do have a disabled toilet and a dorm room on the ground floor for those with different needs. Visit the Access page of our main site for more details or email us with any questions.
Safety & Security
Safety is our priority and our LOTC accreditation demonstrates that Cohort and the service we provide meets the needs of schools; with effective risk management and good quality learning outside the classroom facilitation.
We have all the relevant H&S and safeguarding policies in place (you can download them from our Policies and Risk Assessments page) and public liability insurance up to £5m.
Whether the group is large enough to take over the entire building or small enough to share communal spaces with another school, student safety comes first. All rooms have key card access, there is CCTV on site and the building is staffed 24/7. Reception is open 8am – 2pm and 4 – 10pm and there is a duty manager on call overnight (10pm – 8am).
Catering
Accommodation only | B&B | Half Board | Full Board
At Cohort you can do your own thing entirely when it comes to food (and a lot of the older groups do) as we have a great self-catering kitchen.
Alternatively we can provide breakfast, packed lunches and evening meals to order; you can even mix and match depending on your itinerary.
We cater for all dietary requirements. Evening meals are prepared by a fabulous local chef – Ian Crocker – with everything ordered and paid for in advance.
View and download catering options and our in-house menus.
Facilities
Cohort has all the facilities you need for a comfortable stay
Firstly (and the question we get asked by almost every student on arrival) we DO HAVE WiFi. It’s free, it’s superfast and is accessible wherever you are in the building – from bedrooms to the courtyard.
Our movie screen in the main lounge is great for presentations, seminars or movie nights if you have the whole building. We have a fully equipped, self-catering kitchen if you expect the students to do their own thing, a dry room and laundry area, a TV lounge and a table football in the courtyard.
Visit our tourist site to see full details of all our facilities.
Communal Areas
Our main lounge – Wesley Hall – can host your entire group and is ideal for seminars and movie nights. It’s also a great space for smaller groups to work and relax in between activities.
We have a TV lounge and small dining room, both of which are easy to section off for seminars and/or discussion groups. Our private courtyard with a retractable awning has 4 large picnic tables and a full sized football table; this makes it ideal for al fresco dining or a great place to chill and / or work.
We know how important it is for classes to re-group throughout the day and at Cohort you can do that in the best possible environment.
Free planning trip
Get the most out of your trip by visiting in advance
Once a residential trip is booked a free planning stay is available for the organising staff member or a relevant colleague. This is for up to 2 people for 2 nights at any time of year.
Often organisers have used this as an opportunity to have a mini-holiday in St Ives and brought their family along. We are delighted to support this trip and will deduct the free planning trip off the total cost of the stay.
For primary schools this planning trip is available prior to the booking being confirmed as we appreciate that there are more aspects to consider before booking.
Carbon offsetting & our green ethos
Offset the carbon of your travel to St Ives by planting a tree
We are committed to offsetting our carbon footprint and are on a mission to plant 2,500 trees by 2025. We will automatically plant 5 trees in the school’s name to offset the carbon impact of your travel to us and you will receive a certificate in your welcome pack.
We are almost entirely plastic-free at Cohort and include details in our welcome talk of how your students can support our practices by recycling on site, reusing water bottles and disposing of waste appropriately when out and about in St Ives.
We have won awards for our approach to sustainability and are a Gold Green Tourism Award holder. You can read more about our approach on our other site here.
