Leighton Hall School Trip

Being the lived in family home of the famous Gillow furniture making family and NOT a museum, children are welcome to sit on the furniture, examine artefacts close up and are easily able to compare and contrast the development of houses, homes and families from Victorian times to the present day.

Seasonal change, sound and light:
The woodland walk with its deciduous and evergreen trees, bulbs, ferns, mosses and undergrowth, offers the chance to explore change throughout the seasons. Depending on the weather, time of year and tree canopy, light changes constantly, as does sound with the noise of birdsong, and rustling leaves the most prevalent.

Biology: Animals including humans:
An estate like Leighton is a valuable local employer and contributor to the local economy, as well as teaching rural skills through apprenticeships and work experience schemes. Animals, both domestic and wild, play an important role on a farming estate such as this. See cows, sheep, possibly deer and domestic pets.
Living Things & Habitats:
A birds of prey demonstration is included in the price of every indoor school trip, with information given about life cycles and habitats of the various birds shown. (summer season only - weather permitting)

Settlement & Land Use: Children can find out the reason for the original settlement at Leighton and the generations of the famous Gillow furniture making family that lived there and how the garden and surrounding land are used to support the hall and estate.

Maps & Atlas:
Children are encouraged to create a map of the gardens, park, pond, tree face trail and woodland walk, or learn how to make an aboriginal map stick and discover how ancient cultures used it. (Map stick materials supplied).

Garden:
As well as an ornamental garden, there is a well maintained vegetable garden that not only supplied the family with fruit and vegetables in Victorian times, but continues to do so today, enabling children to learn about growing fresh food and healthy eating. During the summer season and when weather permits, pupils are treated to a bird of prey flying display.

Story writing:
A marvellous opportunity for children to write an account of their trip, including the journey to and from Leighton and record details of their visit, which teachers can use as a project for a factual story on return to school.

Painting, Sculpture & Drawing:
Examples of all manner of Art and artefacts are on display throughout the hall and are investigated during the children's tour.
Craft: From November onwards, as part of their visit, school groups are offered the chance to make the sort of Christmas decorations typical of Victorian times. (Materials included)

Victorian:
Children are always full of excitement about exploring this lived in house. Leighton Hall was altered architecturally in the 19th century to reflect the Victorian gothic style, and offers a fascinating insight into life at that time. Children can get up close, and interact with Victorian inventions, artefacts, pictures and the family who have lived here since Victorian times.

Bushcraft: Unique hands-on learning, with fully supervised sessions in bushcraft and survival skills and a role play "rescue". Including shaping wood, making a shelter, lighting a fire and fire safety. Activities include: Building a camp fire, wood whittling, making a shelter and foraging.

Field Studies: Leighton Hall are working in partnership with Larksfoot Forest School practitioners to bring outdoor learning to key stage 1 and 2 pupils through 4 brand new outdoor learning packages. Taking place outside in the grounds of Leighton Hall, there's a yurt shelter, weatherproof woodland circle, fire pit, maze, playground and woodland trails for acres of exercise and fun.
Activities include: mapping, field studies, habitats, pond dipping and fieldwork and investigations

In the Food for Thought workshop, children explore the fruit and vegetables in Leighton's kitchen garden. They'll learn where real food comes from, how we grow it, and changing tastes through time. Later there's a supervised foraging walk, discovering the delights of edibles / how to avoid non-edibles, before returning to Leighton's outdoor kitchen to turn their bounty into a delicious meal.

Leighton Hall is home to the famous Gillow furniture making family, all who lived and worked locally. Famous for its Objets d'art and stunning pieces of Gillow furniture there are no roped off areas. Children can climb the "Flying Staircase", sit at the priceless telescopic Gillow dining table, and discover what "Tickling the Moose!" means.

Living Like Cavemen is an exciting, hands-on experience which helps children learn about the lives of early humans: how they found food, created cave drawings and made fire, and how their lives compare to ours today.

Activities include fire lighting, fire safety, charcoal art, tool making and shelter building.

An Orchards' Tale helps children to understand the importance of apple orchards. This session highlights the vital role of pollinators in food production and the human impact on nature.

Activities include role play, collecting and pressing apples, preparing food and cooking on an open fire.