A uniquely bold learning adventure for younger teens

The 2026 GLE Jr programme builds on more than six decades of UWC education to create a course centred on:

• Leadership as something shared, daring, playful and regenerative
• Thinking for oneself and learning to make ethical, reflective decisions
• Celebrating intercultural learning and diverse life experiences
• Discovering Wales through ecosystems, history, myth, and living culture
• Learning through games, movement, theatre, metaphor and nature
• Being in our “growth zone” and building our confidence and agency
• Moving from “I don’t know if I can” to trying, learning and growing together
• Moving from “I feel different” to “my differences are my superpower”

GLE Junior is designed as a laboratory for play-based systems learning and holistic growth: a place to experiment with new ideas safely, joyfully and with purpose.

Participants will leave with a new sense of belonging to a global community of young change-makers.

A First Step on the Journey towards Leadership in a Changing World

GLE Jr. is an opportunity for young changemakers beginning to explore leadership, global awareness and their own values.

GLE Jr. introduces participants to:

• Understanding themselves, the world they live in and their emerging values
• Building confidence, collaboration skills, and emotional awareness
• Encountering diverse global ideas in age-appropriate, engaging ways
• Experiencing leadership as curiosity, service, and collective action
• Learning through outdoor experiences, challenges and creative activities

The GLE Junior programme uses storytelling, play-based learning, imagination, and hands-on exploration, suitable for early teens. It offers a safe, inspiring environment to build foundational skills that prepare young people for:

• GLE: ages 15-17
• study at the United World Colleges, and
• future leadership roles in their home communities and around the world.

GLE Junior is an accredited UWC Short Course and a tangible stepping stone on the pathway toward deeper UWC engagement.

By joining this programme, you are joining the UWC movement and finding a home within it that you can take with you wherever you go.

Learning About Today’s Global Systems

Through movement, games and immersive activities with a hand-picked, diverse cohort of international youth, participants will experience:

• How the world – and us humans – are connected in big and small ways
• How stories and media shape how we think and how we understand the world
• Big global challenges like climate change, sustainability and regenerative practices
• How to think creatively to find solutions to these complex global situations
• How to learn with intention: from social media scrolling to critical thinking and reflective learning
• Participants learn to think outside of their usual perspectives, engage with global ideas and cultivate genuine curiosity and passion about their place in today’s global issues.

Leadership for a Changing World

Participants explore:

• Different models – and different cultural expressions – of leadership
• Leading collaboratively, kindly and bravely
• Solving complex group challenges with real teamwork
• Leadership that responds to real needs and responsibility

Participants learn not only what leadership is, but how it feels and what it asks of them.

UWC Mission & Values in Action

GLE is a living expression of UWC Atlantic’s origins and the wider UWC movement’s mission. Participants step tangibly into this legacy as they:

• Learn about the history of UWC, including its origins at Atlantic College
• Explore peace, sustainability and justice through creative expression
• Practise values as lived experiences, not just words
• Reflect on how they can bring courage and responsibility to their lives at home
• Join a global network of young people imagining and building better futures

GLE Jr. ignites idealism through authentic connection and learning that engages participants’ hands, hearts and heads.

Wales as a Globally Unique Living Classroom

The UWC Atlantic campus is surrounded by a landscape rich in ecology, history, culture, and communities.

GLE Jr. participants will dive into:

• Coastal ecosystems and marine life
• Woodlands, valleys, and changing rural environments
• Local community partners and initiatives
• Stories, myths, and traditions of Wales as a rich, living culture
• Cynefin: the Welsh concept of belonging across human differences and with nature

The land and sea become guides, teaching participants how leadership is about being a caring steward for all life.

Outdoor Learning & Adventure

Outdoor learning is a core part of the GLE Jr. programme, building participants’ courage, trust, teamwork, and self-awareness. Activities may include:

• Team and solo nature-based challenges
• Guided exploration of Wales’ coasts, mountains and woodlands
• Lifelong memories shaped by movement, play and trust-building

These outdoor learning and adventure sessions safely offer GLE Jr. participants transformational experiences and lifelong memories that will shape the way they face challenges in their lives to come.

GLE Jr. offers unique course offerings not typically found in other 13-15 youth programmes:

• Biomimicry design challenges – sparking creativity through natural design
• Creating their own purpose-driven games, to share and try with youth in other communities
• Council of Beings – embodying animals and lifeforms to learn ecosystem-centred decision-making processes in a playful way
• Mapping Wales’ ecosystems as a living library – mapping out species, communities, coastlines, woodlands and the relationships that bind them together
• Carnival & pageantry games – using play and theatre to learn about complexity
• Welsh and Celtic culture – to inspire cultural expression that reflects each one of us
• Leadership as stewardship – to lead with responsibility, care and kinship with nature

Participants will be accommodated in houses featuring dormitories, where up to four students share a room. Houses are assigned by gender, with room allocations based on age and a thoughtfully balanced mix of nationalities. Each house includes a common room with ample space to relax, as well as a kitchen stocked with daily essentials like fresh fruit, bread, spreads, biscuits, and cereals.

All houses are situated within the College grounds, offering stunning views of the sea and surrounding woodland, and are just a short walk from all key facilities, including the dining hall, classrooms, activity areas, and pick-up points.

Dining in the historic 12th-century castle hall, a space that has hosted thinkers and leaders for decades, participants will enjoy three full meals a day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On days the group will be offsite, a packed lunch will be provided.