Education
Historic parks and gardens have so much to offer for school visits, but not all sites have on-site Education Officers.
I can help fill the gap, by designing or delivering activities to help historic parks and gardens provide engaging and curriculum-fulfilling visits.
Here are some of the educational projects I have done:
Land of the Fanns Online Educational Resource
For the Land of the Fanns Landscape Partnership Scheme on the Essex-London border, I worked with Paul Tranter from Citrus Frog website design, to create an innovative and free online educational resource for anyone involved in education within the local area, be they a teacher, parent, or home learner.
It makes it easy to see what historic outdoor spaces are available locally, and what kind of educational activities young people could do there, and gives supporting resources at their fingertips. The website has something for all school Key Stages from Foundation to KS4.
Warley Woods KS2 School Workshops
In 2018 I co-designed and delivered a series of groundbreaking primary school workshops at Warley Woods in the Black Country on researching the historic park and applying heritage values and significance.
Sayes Court School Workshop
When creating a school workshop to introduce London children to John Evelyn and his 17th century garden at Sayes Court in Deptford, it seemed obvious to follow up an introduction to Peter the Great with a wheelbarrow race to reinact his infamous escapade crashing through John Evelyn’s holly hedge!
Hollickwood School Gardening Club
I headed an award-winning project to establish a family gardening ethos at an urban school.
‘Award of Merit’ in the Sunday Telegraph
‘Gardening Against the Odds’ Conservation Foundation
Training
Knowledge is for sharing, so I’m always up for delivering training on topics such as how to engage children, whether and how to approach a play area development, and working with families in historic landscapes.
Here is some of the training I have delivered:
Curators’ Workshop on Family Engagement
I co-delivered a bespoke workshop for English Heritage Curators on family interpretation and play at their properties.
Child Engagement Outdoors: Staff and Volunteer Training
I designed and delivered a full day training session for National Trust staff and volunteers at Sudbury Children’s Country House to empower them to be more confident at engaging with children in the property’s garden.
Plantlife Session on Pros and Cons of Playgrounds
I delivering a training session for PlantLife members on the merits and downsides of playgrounds in historic garden visitor attractions.
University of Oxford
It was a pleasure to teach at the University of Oxford (Department for Continuing Education) on engaging, children, families and excluded groups with historic parks and gardens.
Belsay Hall: Family Visit Workshop
All day workshop for English Heritage’s staff on seeing the gardens at Belsay Hall through the lens of a family visit, to support discussions around a new play area.
