With heathlands, woodlands and ponds, Yateley Common offers a variety of experiences to visitors. You can walk, cycle and horse ride through 193 hectares of varied and wildlife rich surroundings. The Common also offers visitors the opportunity to fish, bird watch, and get involved in practical conservation through volunteering.
Science
Science
The teaching and learning of science can take many forms due to the large number of branches of the discipline, but all of them involve a large element of doing things, of experimenting, of making and breaking, of trying out new ideas, whether at primary or secondary level. This has been appreciated by museums and visitors centres, so that we now have a plethora of possibilities.
The Association for Science Education is the lead body helping schools to develop their teaching and learning. It offers support for primary and secondary science subject leaders, teachers and schools, and keeps schools abreast of curriculum and assessment changes and reforms. The Association aims to enrich science teaching and learning with free resources, which can be found at: www.schoolscience.co.uk
Some venues are obviously specifically suitable for science groups, but others, which are more cross-curricular, are less obvious. Below we give staff a pointer to these as well as making it easy to access the websites of the well known attractions.
CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, has long been popular with British school groups. It is celebrating 60 years this year and is encouraging teachers to look at its Cern Education website.
CAT, the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, is also celebrating a major birthday this year – its 40th. It is a very different experience from CERN, but fascinating nonetheless.
The announcement in April 2015 that the new SKA radiotelescope is to be built in the UK will also be a huge boost for scientists looking for projects to follow and then visit as the telescope is built in readiness for full operational capability in 2025.
We should draw your attention to the fact that farm visits are popular with primary schools and there is a growing number of farms offering excellent opportunities – from feeding animals to driving tanks. But there are some stringent health and safety rules to be observed. For advice and guidance please contact Handsam by calling 03332 070737 or emailing trips@handsam.co.uk.
Main organisations:
Association for Science Education
Membership through Handsam
Radiation Protection Officer services through Handsam
Inclusion: NASEN
Thought of visiting?
Centre for Alternative Technology
Michael Faraday Museum, London
National Conservation Centre, Liverpool
Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester
Techniquest (various locations in Wales including Cardiff, Wrexham and Pembrokeshire)
Venues for this Curriculum
For a fun-filled day out for all the family, or simply to enjoy the peace and quiet of acres of natural surroundings, take a fascinating journey of discovery through the living world of Plantasia & Mazeworld.
Adventure playground, nature trails, accessible paths, sculpture trail and nature viewing platform. Plus excellent Discovery Packs for hire from the friendly visitor centre including a pond dipping kit and binoculars!
Welcome to The Nature Discovery centre, a visitor centre with beautiful lakes that adjoins Thatcham Reedbeds SSSI nature reserve. Children can explore Cold Ash stream, follow a lakeside walk and enjoy close up experiences with many species of resident and migrating birds.
Forbury Gardens is a delightful Victorian town garden, created at the height of the urban parks movement. The gardens have recently undergone major restoration. They are located between the town centre and the ruins of the 11th century abbey, not far from Reading Station. The ornamental gardens have a wall around which provides a peaceful and tranquil retreat.
Paddle a canoe gently along a meandering river; explore underground caverns; climb crags and cliffs; abseil down a waterfall; shoot the rapids in a kayak; watch wildlife or study Wales' rich heritage on foot, by bike, kayak or canoe.
Considered by many to be the most beautiful lake in Wales, Lake Vyrnwy is tucked away in a landscape of rolling meadows, towering crags, rushing waterfalls, mysterious forest and moorland.
Largest castle in Wales, well preserved & interpreted, exhibitions, film show, interactive table. We also provide Medieaval Treasure Chest handling and self-led activity packs on Castles, English and Science, Technology and Mathematics.
Rheilfford Mynydd Brycheiniog
Travel with smoke and steam in splendid Wales.
The line runs from Pant, near Merthyr Tydfil. Travel in one of our all-weather Observation Carriages, behind a vintage steam locomotive, into the Brecon Beacons National Park to see stunning views of the peaks of the Beacons across the Taf Fechan reservoir.
A scheduled ancient monument rich in domestic nostalgia
Before the discovery of natural gas in the North Sea, Britain’s gas was made from coal. Fakenham’s gas museum combines industrial archaeology with social and cultural history. It charts the first steps to light up homes and cities at night and to provide heating and domestic appliances. It also pays homage to an industry that between 1800 and 1970 employed over a million people.
Set in over 500 acres of historic deer park, Wollaton Hall is a spectacular Tudor building home to the city's Natural History Museum.
Also see the Industrial Museum, Steam Engine House, Wollaton Visitor Centre and the Yard Gallery, plus exhibitions exploring art and the environment.
A surprisingly beautiful and fascinating Victorian Pumping Station, that is still operational on ‘steam days’. Learn how it supplied Nottingham with water during the early 1880s. Surrounded by a lovely garden with a lake.
A museum at Wollaton Hall covering the industrial history of Nottingham from lacemaking to motorcycle manufacture. Steam day on the last Sunday of every month, plus a calendar of changing events during the year.
Great local museum which celebrates the culture and social history of the people of Lincolnshire from 1750 to the present day. There are a number of exhibits, which illustrate commercial, agricultural, industrial, and domestic life.
The Natural World Centre is a state of the art sustainably designed visitor centre within the beautiful 375 acre Whisby Nature Park, just to the south of Lincoln.
This Iron Age settlement was originally occupied almost 2,000 years ago and is one of the finest examples of such in the country.
Maritime Museum
If you would like to discover more about Hull’s maritime heritage, come and enjoy free admission to the city’s Maritime Museum.
Find out all about St Neots in this small but fascinating museum. Free entry for local residents.
There is an interesting selction of photographs and objects, plus a number of hands on activities, which the kids will love.
This ruin of a 12th century castle in the grounds of a mansion, was built as a fortified palace and was in the ownership of the Church until the 16th century. Now a romantic ruin, in the grounds of the New Sherborne Castle, it is a great day out for all ages.
The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, is the geology museum of the University of Cambridge. It is part of the Department of Earth Sciences and is located on the University's Downing Site in Downing Street, central Cambridge.
Learn all about how cheese is made through a guided tour of a working dairy, and get to try some of it too. Cheese Experience Days offered for those who want to have a go themselves.
A Wonderful Wetland
Britain's largest dune loch is a joy to visit any time of year. In winter, thousands of wild geese, swans and ducks fly in, including 20 per cent of the world's population of pink-footed geese – it's a sight you'll never forget.
The trust has its headquarters in Thorn Park Lodge, Thorn Park, Plymouth. At the lodge is a pharmaceutical library, a collection of materia medica (used in the past for making pharmaceutical preparations) an extensive collection of artefacts and old fashioned proprietary goods.
Explore our collections of art, nature and history on display in this beautiful building. Find out about the last billion years of earth’s history, explore the region’s natural wonders and discover more about peoples’ lives, past and present. Entry to the Museum is free.
Schools
The Home of Seahenge
This recently re-furbished town museum tells the story of Kings Lynn and west Norfolk. Gleaming display cases are packed with objects from the area’s colourful past including collections of pilgrim’s badges, maritime treasures and a fantastic hoard of Iceni gold coins.
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