Cotswold Wildlife Parkand Gardens is home to over 250 species of exotic animals in 65 hectares of landscaped parkland. It has an extensive educational programme in place for all key stages and FE/HE Colleges. The Park includes mammals, birds, reptiles and invertebrates in its collection and aspires to promote an understanding of each species’ special features and how they have evolved and adjusted to survive in varied habitats.

“Thank you for the lovely day we had at the Cotswold Wildlife Park. The children and staff all had a wonderful time. Could you please pass on our thanks to all your colleagues for making this one of the best summer trips we have ever had.” Francis Baily Primary School, July 2009

The Park is celebrating its 40th Anniversary in 2010. Over the course of the last 39 years, many thousands of children have visited the park with their schools and colleges, some coming back more than once in an academic year as part of their extended course work. In general, our educational programme talks place out in the Park using the animals at hand to illustrate the talk given. The talks are often given by Keepers who work with the animals on view on a daily basis. The Park is proud to have been the first UK zoo to be awarded the Quality Badge by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom in 2009.

The Park’s extensive educational talks and tours programme caters for all areas of the National Curriculum as well as areas of FE and HE. Some talks are given simply to enthuse and inspire children whilst others have specific curriculum goals in mind, as well as enthusing and inspiring participants.

Topics on offer range from ‘Caring for Animals’; ‘The World of Plants’ and ‘How Animals Feed’, aimed at reception and KS1 classes, though ‘Enclosure Design’ workshops and ‘Conservation of Endangered Species’ talks aimed at KS3 and 4 applied science courses to ‘Record Keeping and Studbook Management’ for FE and HE students. However, our education co-ordinator is always happy to discuss bespoke talks with teachers and lectures should you want a talk tailored to your curriculum.

Our standard talks and tours last from 35 to 40 minutes and are provided free of charge for education groups visiting the Park from September to March. We charge for talks and tours in our busy, summer term, months.

For full information of the Park and its facilities for school visits go to the Park’s website at www.cotswoldwildlifepark.co.uk.

Key information

• LOtC badge holder
• Talks and tours for all Key Stages
• Free appraisal visit for group organiser
• Bespoke presentations service
• Supports National Curriculum
• A range of classroom activities available
• Free adult ticket with 5 students
• £10m public liability insurance