Andrew Burlison

Andrew is from Esh Winning, in County Durham. Both of his parents are social workers so growing up he spent a lot of his childhood in and around children’s homes.

Andrew attended Deerness Valley Comprehensive School. From year 7 – 11 he represented Great Britain in Gymnastics, competing in international competitions in Russia, Poland, China, and Belgium. From Deerness he went to New College Durham to Study BTEC Sport, then moved away to study Physical Education / Social Sciences at Chester University and completed his PGCE in Physical Education at Liverpool Hope University.

Whilst at university Andrew spent 3 months working for Christian Aid in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. After graduating Andrew became a PE Teacher, and he taught in Sunderland for 15 years. It was in schools he managed to pass on his passion for travelling and his love of the great outdoors, taking his pupils on outdoor adventurous trips to the Lake District and later further afield on school expeditions to Ecuador, Kilimanjaro and Nepal.

Andrew left his dream job of being a PE Teacher to set up World in February 2017. Andrew’s favourite part of his job is greeting all the young people when they come into school on a morning and making them all breakfast.

Andrew also volunteers for the UK Coastguard, which means he is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, responding to over 200 call outs a year where he is trained in rope rescue, water rescue and search techniques.