Opening Times

The site is open for school day and residential visits all year round.

What makes this a great venue for School group Fun or Educational Visits?

Gibraltar Point is a great venue for a school visit as it has a variety of habitats for the children to explore, from the beach, to the ponds and woodland. The staff provide all the equipment and tuition throughout your visit and provide advice and support before you come.

What are the Curriculum Topics or Benefit to the students from a visit?

A visit to Gibraltar Point allows the students to expand on what they have learnt in the classroom and consolidate their knowledge in a fun environments. For secondary schools it allows them the opportunity to see in practice the theories they discuss in the classroom for both science and geography topics. Primary groups can come and interact with the environment and discover more practically about the topics they have done at schools including habitats, and coastal geography.

What are the activities?

Activities range from beach scavenger hunts, minibeast safari's, pond dipping, contrasting locality, plant activities, owl pellet dissection and building bird boxes with primary groups. Secondary school groups can sample an aquatic environment, view salt marsh succession, observe the effect of grazing on a dune grassland and observe conservation and management issues of a nature reserve.

What is the age range of the activities?

We have a range of activities for primary school (4-11) and secondary school (12-18). All activities can be taylored the the age of the group.

Sample programme of the activities:

Primary Day Visit

Arrive and meet tutor in the classroom, Introduction to Gibraltar Point.
Walk to the beach mapping habitats on the way
Scavenger Hunt on the beach, followed by beach art
Lunch
Minibeast Safari

Secondary Day Visit

Arrive, meet tutor in classroom. Introduction to Gibraltar Point
Sampling of an aquatic environment, followed by Simpson's Diversity Index
Lunch
Saltmarsh succession - using point quadrats and random sampling
Conservation and management guided walk.

What materials to you provide or suggest groups bring to support the visit?

Once a group has booked in we email the teacher the health and safety booklet, risk assessments for their visit along with the activity sheets they will need for the day. For residiental visits they will also be emailed dietary and medical forms to be comlected before the visit. Residential groups may choose to bring additional activities to entertain the groups in the evening.

What are the minimum and maximum group sizes and the free Teacher Ratio?

The maximum number allowed on a day visit is 40 students, and we recommend the ratio of adults to years 1-3 pupils be 1:6 and all years above 1:10. Accompanying adults on day visits are free.
We have accomodation for up to 36 to stay in our residential centre, and adult to child ratios are 1:10 for residiential visits. For school residential visits for every 11 students there is 1 free place for the teachers.

Do you have or how do you arrange risk assessment?

We have risk assessments for all the activities we do at the centre, which we send out once your group has booked. We do not have a risk assessment for the residential centre when you are not doing a planned activity, it is the responsibility of the teacher in charge to do a risk assessment for activities not run by a member of the Gibraltar Point team.

Do you offer Teacher familiarisation days?

Once you have made a provisional booking you will be offered the opportunity to come on a pre visit, where a member of the Gibraltar Point Education Team will show you around the centre and discuss your visit with you.

What facilities are there for school groups for food and drink, shop etc?

There is a small cafe on site although we would only recommend that for A level groups. A shop is avaliable and if you would like to visit it during your visit let the Education staff know so they can plan it into your day. Alternatively we offer £2 goodie bags for primary school groups.

Is specific clothing required?

The majority of our activities are outside so suitable clothing for the weather is recommended, including waterproof coats, wellies and warm clothing in the winter. Sunhats and suncream are essential in the summer.

Do you have first aid on site?

There is first aid on site and all the Education Staff are first aid training, however all visiting groups are required to bring their own first aider to cover the times when unaccompanied by a member of the Gibraltar Point Team, this is essential on residiential visits.

Additional information.

Booking is essential if you want to visit Gibraltar Point with your school, as a protected nature reserve and category C site all groups require a member of the Education team with them on their visit.