Escot Education - Escot - The natural place for a great day out in Devon

Escot Education

Escot Education Programmes and Prices

Escot Education offers day and residential sessions during the spring and autumn. Our Education facilities include Yurt Village, which provides the perfect place to enjoy residential outdoor learning programmes and the Greenwood Centre for exciting day programmes or "A Wild Night in the Woods".

We tailor the curriculum to suit your class and ensure that students enjoy learning in a safe, fun and adventurous environment. We design your session plan, email risk assessments and see that you have all the heath and safety documents you need for your trip.

We offer school residential programmes, from 1 to 4 nights, at competitive rates including activities based on your chosen areas of study. Food, except lunch on your arrival day, and accommodation, including hot showers and tea and fresh coffee facilities for teachers (24 hours a day) are all included in the prices below:

Yurt Village 2012

1 day, 1 night residential                                   £35.00 per child

2 days, 1 night                                                 £50.00 per child

2 days, 2 nights                                               £70.00 per child

3 days, 2 nights                                               £85.00 per child

4 days, 3 nights                                               £120.00 per child

5 days, 4 nights                                               £160.00 per child

The Greenwood Centre

Please note there may be a small price increase for 2012 bookings

Day programmes at the Greenwood Centre are run by Alan Bruford, Escot's Education Officer and his team of educators. Costs per child are: £8.00 high season, £7.00 low season with a £150.00 minimum for the group.Programmes can be designed to compliment topics being studied at school, such as habitats, team building, pond dipping, history, pirates, animals or forest school activities. Programmes often include visits to the maze, drop slide and pirate ship and incorporate play in the woodlands and the Anglo Saxon village.

Call us in the education office to discuss a specific topic you had in mind.

Living history (cost £10 per child per day)

This topic allows students to delve into the past and enjoy activities focused around the time of the Anglo Saxons. Activities may include: wattle and daub, lighting fires, making pennies, bread making, spoon making, forging, milling, pole lathing, splitting logs and dressing up.

Forest School Activities

Activities in this subject provide students with an insight into survival in the wild. These fun activities may include: fire making, shelter building, campfire cooking, whittling, care and use of tools and a swamp walk if requested. The swamp walk is a 100-metre meander in bare feet through the mire. It is cold, smelly, seriously manky and about 2 feet deep in places finishing with a wash in a pond. It is quite a serious challenge for some and is universally remembered as the best part of the day. 

A Wild Night in the Woods

2 days,1 night cost is £50.00 per child (please see residential programmes below for more information)

To book a day programme with Alan at the Greenwood Centre please call the education office on 01404 822188 ext 2 or email education@escot-devon.co.uk

Residential Site and Facilities

Yurt Village can accommodate up to 56 children/staff per week. The village comes complete with 4 gender-specific sleeping yurts each with a capacity of 14 children in comfortable bunk beds.

There is also a bunk bed in the main 28ft yurt for staff who wish to sleep in this area. The site has powerful hot showers and flushing toilets. There is a fully equipped kitchen, where we prepare your food and a fridge for teachers' use.

We also have a large wood burning stove in the main yurt, for colder spring/autumn nights, which is enclosed by a large fire guard. We have 3 indoor teaching areas and a sheltered dining area.

There is a large playing field area surrounding the yurts, perfect for free time games or sports. We also have a large campfire circle on site for evening activities and relaxing. Our schools' programme connects children with the natural world through learning experiences that simply can't be found in textbooks.

They strengthen community spirit through team challenges and increase their understanding of the natural world through guided, hands-on exploration of ponds and streams and by discovering fun ways to learn about plants and animals.

We also offer Living History experiences and exciting evening programmes for you to choose from, including bat detecting, astronomy night hikes or a campfire with songs, stories and marshmallow toasting.

Areas of Study for residential programmes

We offer the following topics for you to choose from:

Team Building

We offer multiple activities which will help students learn how to work as a team, solve problems and enjoy each other's company. We use giant jigsaws, giant skis, scavenger hunts, imaginative scenarios and games to help students better understand the meaning and importance of team work.

Terrestrial Biology

This area of study allows students to feed the wild boar, visit the red squirrels, help prepare and watch an otter feed and chat with the ranger. We play games to teach about adaptations and go on "each one teach one" student-led hikes in the woodlands. We also run falconry sessions with Escot's falconer, where children dissect owl pellets and handle and fly birds.

Forest School Activities

Based at the Greenwood Centre, the activities in this subject provide students with an insight into survival in the wild. These fun activities may include: fire making, shelter building, campfire cooking, whittling, care and use of tools and a swamp walk if requested. 

The swamp walk is a 100-metre meander in bare feet through the mire. It is cold, smelly, seriously manky and about 2 feet deep in places finishing with a wash in a pond. It is quite a serious challenge for some and is universally remembered as the best part of the day. 

The Water Cycle

Using games and hands on activities, like the "Incredible Journey", we teach students all about the water cycle. We go stream dipping to find macro invertebrates and use microscopes to make observations and draw sketches. We then use dichotomous keys to identify our findings before adding them to the important Escot Biotic Index.

Living History

This topic allows students to delve into the past and enjoy activities focused around the time of the Anglo Saxons. Activities may include: wattle and daub, lighting fires, making pennies, bread making, spoon making, forging, milling, pole lathing, splitting logs and dressing up.

A Wild Night in the Woods (not at yurt village)

A Wild Night in the Woods is a one night residential programme focused on forest school activities. It takes place in the woods at Rowden End, on the Escot estate, and is run by Escot's Education Officer, Alan Bruford and his experienced staff.

Children make shelters to sleep in, cook over an open fire and enjoy activities such as environmental arts and greenwood crafts including whittling. 

Health and Safety

We have completed risk assessments for all our activities and will email them to you at the time of booking, along with emergency procedures and other important health and safety documents. All our staff are CRB checked and we are registered with Ofsted.

Supervision

Escot staff will supervise students between 9am-4pm daily, then again during the evening programme. Our cook will serve breakfast and dinner, however we do ask that the children assist with clean up after all meals.

This can be done by school teachers assigning different groups to certain meal times. Free time and overnight supervision is the responsibility of the school teachers.

Free Time Activities

During free time you can use Escot Park's play areas.

Why choose Escot Education

We offer excellent educational programmes at very competitive prices in an environment which is safe, fun and unique. Your students will remember their visit to Escot and Yurt Village for years to come.

To book or find out more please telephone the education office on 01404 822188 ext 2 or email education@escot-devon.co.uk

Rural Studies for Schools and Colleges 

The Tale Valley contains important and in some cases unique opportunities for country-side and river management, conservation, landscape history and geography based studies. These include the Escot Wetlands, a carefully preserved area, which enjoys stewardship status, and the important Tale Valley Water Meadows, which currently form part of an important restoration project.

The Tale is the subject of a significant programme of work by the Tale Valley Trust including two river management demonstration sites. Escot Education works closely with course tutors to optimise study programmes exploits the potential of these and other study sites to the full.

For further information please contact Vic - campwild@escot-devon.co.uk or call on 01404 822188.

School parties and those with special needs 

Using the magical gardens, wetlands, woods and parkland of the Escot Estate and other sites in the Tale Valley, our Education Ranger will design and supervise a programme that responds to the needs of your own group. There are many activities to choose from. For example, a Wild Day Out includes nature treasure hunts, birds of prey displays, pond dipping and bug hunts, and story telling in the forest whilst cooking (and eating!) squishy marshmallows around the campfire. We also offer a Wild night Out, a Dormouse Day and an Otter Day. These all combine lessons in conservation with exciting countryside activities. These day and half-day programmes are suited to school children and college students and also those with special needs. Parents and teachers are encouraged to play a full part (including eating the marshmallows!) For further information please contact Vic - education@escot-devon.co.uk  or call on 01404 822188.