School visits with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust
Take your children on a journey of learning and discovery
The skilled and experienced learning team will lead your day and engage your children’s heads, hearts, and hands.
We're passionate about making the outdoors fun, accessible and relevant – whatever your age.
Imaginative activities link with early learning goals, the Key Stage 1 and 2 science, geography and history curricula and give opportunities for developing literacy and numeracy skills. Sessions are adapted to be age-appropriate, accessible and relevant to experience.
EYFS AND LOWER KEY STAGE 1
EYFS AND LOWER KEY STAGE 1
UPPER KEY STAGE 1 AND KEY STAGE 2
Things to know before you book
We offer fully led days for pre-booked groups year-round at our main learning centres - Crickley Hill and Robinswood Hill.
- Trips usually run from 10am – 2.30pm but timings can be flexible.
- Some programmes are location-specific and/or seasonally available, for example pond dipping is only available at Robinswood Hill.
- Single class visits (of approximately 30 children) work best, but if you want to bring more than one class at the same time, please talk to the learning team.
- Suggested school staffing ratios for schools visits are:
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Nursery/pre-school: one adult per three children
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Reception: one adult per five children
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Years 1-3: one adult per six children
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Years 4-6: one adult per eight children
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Ratios do not include one-to-one support or Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers
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- Visits cost £9 per child (or £6 for half-day programmes), accompanying adults are free.
- For small classes (less than 25 children) there is a minimum cost of £225 per class (£150 for half day sessions). Please note, it may not be possible for us to accommodate requests for half-day sessions in our peak periods.
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Wilder Learning Bursary or Countryside Stewardship Scheme funding may be available for some schools at specific sites. Please contact learning@gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk for more information.
On the day of your visit
The children will work together as a class for the day. In case we need to divide them up within an activity, it will be helpful to have them pre-assigned in groups with your helping adults.
Please ensure that the children and adults are dressed appropriately for the season and the weather forecast for the local area including layers for cold weather and sun cream and sunhat for sunny days. Please ask the learning team if you need more information.
It’s important that the children have wellington boots and a change of shoes/socks in case their feet get wet.
Safeguarding and Risk Assessment
Safeguarding and risk assessments are imperative to keep children safe during sessions. Below you will find the GWT safeguarding policy and the generic risk assessment for all school visits. We also do an 'On the Day' risk assessment following a site check by the staff member leading the session on the day of each session and including any additional risks related to the specific sessions activity. If you would like a copy of the on the day risk assessment for a session or more details on how we implement the safeguarding policy please email learning@gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk
The children and adults attending each session are made aware of risks and mitigation measures at the start of each session.