Education is a core part of our mission at the University of Bristol Botanic Garden. We offer inspiring school trips for primary and secondary school pupils and have a range of themes to make your visit relevant to the National Curriculum. We also offer trips and tours for FE and HE students.
School tours last around 75 – 90 minutes, and are delivered in small groups by our experienced Garden guides.
Themes include:
- plant habitat
- plant adaptation to the environment
- how plants grow
- pollination
- the role of seeds
- plant evolution
- plants in our everyday lives
- plants in the food chain
As well as our list of suggested themes, with advance notice we may be able to tailor your visit to match a project or syllabus theme.
The Garden has disabled access and there are toilet facilities on-site. Most of your visit will take place outside, so please come with appropriate clothing, footwear and sun/rain protection.
Availibility:
Please check our calendar for an idea of available dates. Empty dates should usually be available, unless there is already a request for that date waiting to be processed. Dates marked busy may still be available – enquire with the office.
Please note there is occasionally a glitch with Microsoft where the calendar starts in 1899! If this happens, just click ‘Today’ in the top left.
Group size:
Minimum:
For tours, we generally have a minimum group size of 10. If you are a SEND school or class with a smaller class size please contact garden-visits@bristol.ac.uk to discuss your requirements.
There is no minimum group size for self-guided visits.
Maximum:
For tours, the suggested maximum class size per visit is around 30 pupils, pre-organised into groups of around 10.
Larger groups than this can not usually be accomodated in the same visit, but classes could be spread across the day (maximum of one class in the moning, and a second in the afternoon) or over the week. Please contact garden-visits@bristol.ac.uk if you have concerns about the size of your group.
Travel:
Click here for details on how to get to the Garden.
Cost:
Guided tours: £3.50 per pupil/student
Self-guided visits: £1.50 per pupil/student
There is no charge for staff and adult helpers accompanying students on school trips.
Home education/home schooling groups, playgroups and youth groups such as Scouts and Guides should also book trips using this form and pricing.
Health and safety:
Please read our Risk Assessment for School Visits and ensure it is distributed to all staff and adult helpers.
For guided tours: we require a minimum of one staff or adult helper per group of 10 students for all pupils under 18.
For self-guided visits: Please ensure you have an appropriate number of adult helpers to ensure the safety of your pupils, our staff and visitors, and our collections. This can be based on your own risk assessment of activities you will engage in and the age and requirements of the pupils attending.
Recce:
Please contact garden-visits@bristol.ac.uk to arrange a complimentary recce visit to help plan your school trip.