© Ian Cameron-Reid
Swanwick Lakes Education Centre
Swanwick Lakes Education Centre
Surrounded by a beautiful mosaic of habitats including lakes, woodlands and flower-filled meadows, Swanwick Lakes Education Centre provides the perfect environment for learning. The fascinating archaeological history of the nature reserve makes it particularly special.
Wildlife Rangers Swanwick © Chris Fairhead
Chris Fairhead
Schools, Preschools, and Groups
Swanwick Lakes provides a wide range of activities for schools and groups.
A typical visit includes three sessions, but the day can be easily adapted to suit your group’s learning needs. Below are just a few examples of the activities we offer. If there’s a particular topic you’d like to focus on, let us know, we’ll be happy to tailor your visit to meet your requirements.
Activities for Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1
Minibeasts and Habitats
Search for invertebrates in 2 or 3 different Swanwick Lakes habitats (woodland, pond and meadow) and play creative games to reinforce learning
Plants
Meet the trees and explore all things green across our 3 habitats with our multi-sensory plants day. Use team games and hands-on identification to learn about the variety and structure of plants.
Three little pigs – Materials
Get ‘hands on’ with a variety of materials such as clay, gravel, rush and wood. Sort and group and find out their uses. Investigate how materials can be changed. A wonderful opportunity to get muddy and explore the outdoor environment!
Sensory Safari
Explore the sights, sounds, smells and touches and Swanwick Lakes through games, stories and plenty of hands-on activities
Activities for Key Stage 2
Habitats
Compare and contrast 2 or 3 different Swanwick Lakes habitats (woodland, pond and meadow). Construct and act out food chain and webs and investigate how animals are adapted to survive in their habitats.
Rocks and Soils
Go on a hands-on, mud–filled adventure to explore different type of rocks and soils and understand how rocks and soils are formed. Have a close up, creative encounter with the naturally occurring Swanwick clay
Team Survival
Complete team challenges and solve problems; learn to keep still and camouflage yourself and then build a shelter in the woods.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Take part in games and hands on activities to find out why it’s important for people to reduce, reuse and recycle. Explore the world of compost and learn about recycling in the natural world. Use rubbish to create some wonderful characters to take home with you
Keys Stage 3, 4 and FE
Talk to us about your requirements and learning objectives. These could be anything from biological sampling, to Forest School-inspired experiences, designed to promote teamwork, individual achievement, wellbeing and social-emotional development.
Forest School
Explore our Forest School sessions, designed to cover various topics while fostering social, emotional, communication, and physical skills. Our programmes consist of six or more sessions tailored for groups of 12-15 children or young individuals.
Upcoming Events
Forest School for families with 2-5 year olds at Swanwick Lakes
Swanwick Lakes Nature Reserve,
Swanwick, Hampshire
Festive Family Fun at Swanwick Lakes - Weekend Event
Swanwick Lakes Nature Reserve,
Swanwick, Hampshire
Safeguarding and Child Protection
We take child protection and safeguarding very seriously. Our Child Protection and Safeguarding Statement sets out how we implement child protection and safeguarding across the Wildlife Trust and who to contact if you have questions or concerns.
Our partner at Swanwick Lakes
Swanwick Lakes achieves recognition for high quality educational visits.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust at Swanwick Lakes has achieved national recognition for its educational visits and has been awarded the Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) Quality Badge.
The LOtC Quality Badge is the only scheme that recognises quality of learning and effectiveness of risk management and is awarded by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom.
