Bursaries Available!

Dale Fort FIeld Centre

Field Studies Council School Trips

Why book 'Dale Fort FIeld Centre' with Field Studies Council for Residential School Trips and Educational Visits?

-Dale Fort field centre is ideally located for coastal studies and for accessing Skomer Island with its renowned resident sea bird populations, including puffins, guillemots and razorbills. It is also close to a range of field sites including rural and urban settlements, coastal landscapes and tourist honeypot areas. The centre also offers adventure activities for all ages, including a brand new climbing wall!

-Field Studies Council courses are created carefully to link to curriculum requirements. We can work with you to tailor content to complement work back in the classroom.

-We have have passionate and experienced teaching staff.

-Field Studies Council take care of everything once you arrive; comfortable accommodation, all your meals (residential visits) plus transport during the course.

-We offer different price bands through the year to offer value for money.

-Dale Fort field centre is part of Field Studies Council, an environmental education charity with 80 years’ experience of providing fieldwork and outdoor learning and a network of UK centres offering day and residential fieldwork opportunities.

-The charity works in many other ways to create a world where everyone feels connected to the environment including through projects working in local communities and lobbying government to include fieldwork in the curriculum.

Teacher Checklist

Risk Assessments
Inspection Visits
Free Places for Teachers
Bursaries or Funded Places Available
Resource Packs
LOtC Quality Badge
AALA Licence
Institute of Outdoor Learning
Duke of Edinburgh Award

What activities are available during group visits?

Field Studies Councilhave a wide range of activities such as:
Primary: minibeast hunt, pond dipping, hiking, low ropes, eco-activity, climbing, bushcraft, orienteering
Secondary/A level: geography independent investigations, adventurous geography, river study, biology core practicals

Which Curriculum Subjects do you cater for?

Watersports

Canoeing Raft Building

Dale Fort is a BSAC Snorkelling Centre and has its own RIB boat.
We

Biology

Plants Animals including humans Living things and habitats Evolution and inheritance Ecology and environment Life Cycles Minibeasts Habitats Underwater Animals and Habitats

Dale Fort can offer a range of biology courses from fun KS2 to curriculum-based A level trips. KS2 pupils can look at a range of habitats, learning about microhabitats and how they provide the basic needs for living things. Pupils can learn to identify the different structures of plants and name a variety of common animals. Pupils will go on a mini beast hunt, to observe them in their microhabitats.

Human Geography

Settlement and land use Natural resources Population Urbanisation

We offer a range of sessions and courses covering human geography through fieldwork. Most sessions have short classroom sessions before and after.
Human Geography can be covered through fieldwork in a range of sessions and courses. Depending on the level and course you follow, this may include;
- Discovering the impact of people on the habitat using a range of fieldwork techniques
- Economic Growth and functions
- Regeneration and Placemaking
- Investigate the impact of counter-urbanisation in two contrasting settlements
- A qualitative and a quantitative fieldwork method
- develop an understanding of questions that can be investigated through fieldwork
- data presentation and analysis

Teaching is delivered by fully trained and experienced tutors.

Physical Geography

Water cycles Rivers Map and atlas Environment Coasts and seaside Fieldwork

Geography courses cover KS2 to A level groups. KS2 pupils can use maps, stories and games to explore the woods. Discover the plants and animals that live here and design and build dens.

Our geography fieldwork trips and courses are carefully designed to cover all essential content from the curriculum. We ensure the maximum time outdoors possible, allowing students to take advantage of all benefits resulting from outdoor learning.

The geography fieldwork courses are tailored to curriculum requirements for GCSE, A Level, National, Higher, IB, and lower secondary specifications and packed with relevant fieldwork content.

A selection of our popular residential visits to give an idea of what we can offer include:
Coastal – Where the land meets the sea, the UK’s coastline is over 7500 miles in length, and are influenced by many physical and human forces, with dramatic consequences for the people who live there.
Rivers - constantly changing, water levels rise and fall after rain and with the seasons. Erosion, transportation and deposition can all alter the characteristics of the channel and the regime of the river
Regeneration - a complex process aiming to turn areas into sustainable, desirable and effective spaces for us to use and enjoy.
Investigations - at a local scale to consider place meaning and representation changing economic function and socio-demographic characteristics of places.

But we can also create a trip that is totally bespoke to your needs.

Teaching is delivered by fully trained and experienced tutors, to create and deliver geography experiences to suit your requirements. Most sessions have short classroom sessions before and after.

Environmental Geography

Extreme Weather Conservation

Environmental geography can be covered through fieldwork in a range of sessions and courses. For KS4 and A level students all courses are linked to the exam board requirements for each subject and the course can be tailored to your specific needs.
Students can cover a range of environmental geography topics looking at different plants and animals.
Dependant on the course you choose, students could have the opportunity to;
- take first hand measurements, make observations of distinctive river land forms found at the fieldwork sites along the river.
- make a comparison of two different areas used to observe the contrasting abundance of plants associated with varying management regimes.
- Investigate how human activity affects biodiversity, local flows, cycles and processes.
- take primary measurements of the coastal landscape in order to interpret the impact of key coastal processes and management on the landscape.

Delivered by expert, passionate tutors at the forefront of fieldwork tuition with a wide range of contrasting locations available.

Fieldstudies

Sampling and Statistics Coastal Rivers

We offer a range of sessions and courses covering field studies. For KS4 and A level students we link all of our courses to the exam board requirements for each subject and can tailor the course to your specific needs.
Field studies can be covered through fieldwork in a range of sessions and courses.
This can include:
- Sampling Statistics
- Fieldwork Methodology
- Investigation Introduction
- Coastal Environments
- Ecosystems
- Mapping
- River Studies
- Habitats etc

For KS4 and A level students all of our courses are linked to the exam board requirements for each subject and can be tailored to meet your specific needs.

Wildlife

Students will look at a variety of plants and common animals using age appropriate classification keys to identify living things we find in our woodland and in our pond habitats.
Discover what animals and plants can be found in the local area. Pupils have the opportunity to identify a range of plants and invertebrates and investigate how they interact with each other.

Understand that plants play an important role in the survival of animals by looking at simple food chains/webs. They will investigate how living things are adapted to the environment they live in and how their habitats help them to survive. Investigate the structure of a plant and discover their roles. Classify a variety of invertebrates using their features and investigate how they are adapted to their habitat.

Bushcraft

Identify basic survival needs, explore the woods, build a shelter and forage for wild foods. Follow a woodland trail and search for tracks and signs. A day filled with team building and problem-solving activities.

We offer a range of sessions and courses on bushcraft including den building, fire lighting foraging and more, delivered by fully trained and experienced tutors.

Geology

Geological Processes Rocks Plate Tectonics

KS2 groups will immerse themselves in the impressive rocky outcrops and cliff habitats to become rock detectives, uncovering the secret stories and origins of creatures, rocks, fossils and minerals. This hands-on adventure clambering session, will provide inspiration for scientific questions such as:
Why does this live here?
Why are the textures different?

A level Geology courses allow students to complete fieldwork required for students to ‘Think Geologically’ about unfamiliar locations. An investigative approach to fieldwork will be applied with students answering big geological questions.

Our Geology courses develop students’ mathematical and quantitative skills in geology including the application of inferential statistical tests to geological field data.

ICT is often used used throughout including data collection using tablets in the field and using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to plot geological field data.

Physical Education

Climbing Canoeing Orienteering

Dale Fort can offer a range of adventurous activities including climbing, canoeing, coasteering, surfing, paddleboarding and kayaking. Pupils can do these activities in a residential course alongside curriculum content or environmental education.

Team Building

An exciting and challenging introduction to the concepts of working well together, using a wide variety of fun activities and puzzles designed to encourage problem solving and teamwork.

Courses fuse fieldwork with outdoor activities to give students the opportunity to explore real geographical contexts in an exciting and engaging way. Our courses allows students to get first-hand experiences of a range of physical landscapes and processes and a unique insight into the interaction of people and the environment.

Individuals undertaking the course will be encouraged to develop their team skills and individual motivation whilst involved in activities that promote a healthy lifestyle.

What size groups do you cater for?

We can cater for groups of varying size. Some courses have a minimum of 10 students. This centre has 136 beds.

Do you offer on-site classroom facilities?

The centre has four workrooms and a library that can be used as a workroom or conference room. All have interactive whiteboards and WiFi access.

Is there first aid on site?

All Field Studies Council field teachers are trained in first aid and group management. A qualified first aider is available at the field centre 24 hours a day.

Who are Field Studies Council?

Field Studies Council offers fieldwork and outdoor learning for groups of all ages at centres across the UK. Trips use our stunning locations to teach curriculum focused work and inspire everyone about the environment.

Our primary field trips enable you to pick and choose from a range of exciting adventure or curriculum sessions to build your own trip. Our visits will immerse primary school children in the natural world, taking in its sights, sounds and smells.

For secondary and A level groups we offer geography, biology and environmental science courses. Field Studies Council can tailor them to your requirements to ensure you get the most from your visit and trips utilise the local environment to fully engage students.

Bring your subject to life in the outdoor classroom!

Special rates for schools
outside of peak season

Key Stage 3 / S1-S3 residentials from £179 for two nights

Book for a residential between September 2024 and March 2025 for a discount of over 25% on our usual prices*

Lay strong foundations for secondary school success! Our UK centres host exciting, outdoor experiences for Key Stage 3 and S1-S3 students to foster strong bonds with others and personal growth while also covering curriculum content.

- Two-night residential: £179
- Two-night residential including two adventure activities: £199
- Four-night residential including four adventure activities: £349

https://www.field-studies-council.org/key-stage-3

Teacher Checklist Field Studies Council

Risk Assessments
Inspection Visits
Free Places for Teachers
Bursaries or Funded Places Available
Resource Packs
LOtC Quality Badge
AALA Licence
Institute of Outdoor Learning
Duke of Edinburgh Award