Teacher Taster Event – Margam Discovery Centre, South Wales

The geography and biology fieldwork at Margam Discovery Centre are tailored to curriculum requirements and packed with relevant fieldwork content.

This experience will provide insight into how fieldwork and practicals are delivered at our centres and allow reflection on your delivery model and teaching.

• Date: 16 – 17 November 2023
• Start time: 11:00
• End time: 12:00
• Location: Margam Discovery Centre
• Refundable deposit: £60

Itinerary

• Day 1 Arrival
• Welcome talk
• Tour of centre
• Workshop 1: The importance of residential fieldwork experiences
• Fieldwork session 1: Carbon Sequestration: to what extent can afforestation help tackle the climate crisis.
• Lunch
• Fieldwork session 2: Downstream change on the Cwm Phillip.
• Workshop 2: Ensuring safety of your group while running a field course.
• Dinner
• Option of going to evening bat hunt and Pulpit walk  (dependant on numbers) / Campfire within Margam Park
• Overnight stay at Margam Park

Day 2

• Breakfast and make packed lunch
• Workshop 3: Using the outdoors to improve personal wellbeing.
• Fieldwork session 3: Running an NEA course – Physical Geography (coastal and sand dune processes at Newton Beach) and Human Geography (Porthcawl town: tourism, regeneration and retailing change)
• Lunch
• Workshop 4: data presentation and the use of ArcGIS
• Workshop 5: Why choose the Field Studies Council
• How to book a course with Field Studies Council
• Depart

What’s included:

• Full board accommodation in shared rooms
• Bedlinen and towels
• Sample activities and a tour of the centre
• Hot and cold drinks
• Free Wifi
• Picnic/packed lunch
• Free parking/train station pickup/drop off

Please bring:

• Comfortable clothing
• Outdoor footwear
• A waterproof jacket
• Personal toiletries
• A sense of adventure

The new curriculum’s Four Core purposes aim to create confident, independent, real-life learners.

At Margam Park we hope to show KS2 classroom practitioners in Wales how they can meet these aims through outdoor learning.

We believe that to create the next generation of informed, ethical and empathetic global citizens we need to expose younger pupils to the joys of the great outdoors. It has long been recognised that pupil’s physical and mental health can be greatly improved by ensuring that they have regular access to green spaces and outdoor experiences. This one-day experience offers insight into how fieldwork and team building activities are delivered at our centre and ideas that can be adapted for use within your own school grounds.

• Date: 21 November 2023
• Start time: 09:30
• End time: 16:30
• Location: Margam Discovery Centre
• Refundable deposit: £30

Itinerary

• 09:30 Arrival
• Welcome and tour of centre
• Pond Dipping and Bug Hunting. Demonstrating the use of FSC Field ID Guides
• 12:30 Break for picnic lunch
• Shelter building activity and insulation materials experiments. Microclimate investigations. How to set up a small-scale orienteering course.
• Round up – what’s next and how to book
• 16:30 Depart from centre

What’s included:

• Sample activities and a tour of the centre
• Hot and cold drinks
• Picnic/packed lunch
• Free Wifi
• Free parking/train station pickup/drop off

Please bring:

• Warm, comfortable clothing
• Outdoor footwear/wellingtons
• A waterproof jacket
• A packed lunch