Margam Discovery Centre School Trip

Field Studies Council

Port Talbot Glamorgan SA13 2UA

Latest News: 3rd February 2026
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Join our free Q&A on Forest School Leader training led by Field Studies Council experts. Our Forest School training courses are accredited and allow you to achieve a nationally recognised qualification. Register today for the chance to ask any questions you would like answered, and receive a 10% off code for our Forest School Leader courses, if booked before 12th February 2026.

Margam Discovery Centre has access to a wide variety of field sites on the Gower, Heritage Coast and Brecon Beacons. Easy to reach, we are situated just of the M4 between Swansea and Cardiff.

Build your perfect outdoor learning trip with us!

Using activities in the natural environment we support personal development and highlight the many benefits of spending time outdoors.

Programmes can be tailored to your exam board specifications covering the relevant content you require.

Our residential trips are designed to build resilience, boost confidence, and strengthen communication skills.

Outdoor Learning courses are created to complement the curriculum, and engage pupils with subjects in fresh, hands-on ways.

Adventure learning encourages children to push beyond their comfort zones and discover what they're capable of. With carefully tailored, age-appropriate challenges, every child is supported to grow their knowledge and learn in new and exciting ways.

All our residential centres will provide you with:

· A qualified tutor to oversee your trip

· Pre-trip planning including itinerary, kit lists, and risk assessments

· Centres with up to 180 beds, offering flexible rooming options and all bedding included

· Healthy filling meals from dinner on your first day to a packed lunch on your last day

· We hold Learning Outside the Classroom's Quality Badge so there is less paperwork for you

· Free use of waterproofs and wellies

Different price bands are offered throughout the year to offer value for money.

Margam 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.

We work 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.

Current special offers for school groups

*25% off school residential trips with an arrival date during the next three months.

Our late availability offer is available for our full range of courses for visits with an arrival date during the next three months, for customers visiting one of our listed centres*

If you are interested in booking at the discounted rate, please fill in the form on the web site, stating any dates you are able to consider. Or get in touch with our team for an no-obligation quote and to check which centres currently have space.

Standard 2026 price examples:
Book a Primary 2-night stay for just £174 per student per student (normally £231 per pupil).
Book a GCSE 2-night stay for just £193 per student (normally £257 per student).
Book an A Level 2-night stay for just £201 per student per student (normally £268 per student).
Please get in touch for current pricing

valid until: January 2028

15% off for new residential customers

We are currently offering 15% off for new residential customers. Enter the code NEW15 on any of our enquiry forms across the website to take up our special offer, or contact our team for a no-obligation quote.

Standard 2026 price examples:
Book a Primary 2-night stay for just £174 per student per student (normally £231 per pupil).
Book a GCSE 2-night stay for just £193 per student (normally £257 per student).
Book an A Level 2-night stay for just £201 per student per student (normally £268 per student).
Please get in touch for current pricing

valid until: January 2027

British Science Week 2026

The Field Studies Council helps pupils turn curiosity into meaningful scientific questions through hands-on outdoor learning. Our activities encourage learners to ask “why?”, “how?” and “what if?” while investigating real habitats, species and environmental processes. From measuring biodiversity to exploring climate change, we support teachers to build enquiry skills, critical thinking and a lifelong curiosity about the natural world.

Teacher Checklist

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

What activities are available during educational visits in 2026?

There are a wide range of activities available such as:
Primary: minibeast hunt, pond dipping, hiking, eco-activity, rock climbing, bushcraft, orienteering
Secondary/A level: geography independent investigations, adventurous geography, river study, biology core practicals

Which curriculum topics do we cater for?

Wildlife School Trip

Click to read full text 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 School Trip

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.

Biology School Trip

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

There's a range of biology courses from KS2 to curriculum-based A level trips available. 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 can go on a mini beast hunt and observe insects in their microhabitats.

Human Geography School Trip

Settlement and land use Natural resources Population Urbanisation

Click to read full text 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 School Trip

Water cycles Rivers Map and atlas Environment Coasts and seaside Fieldwork

Click to read full text 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:
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 School Trip

Extreme Weather Conservation Sustainable living Climate change

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.

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

Fieldstudies School Trip

Sampling and Statistics Coastal Ecosystems Rivers

Click to read full text 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.

Celts School Trip

Uncover fascinating local histories through hands-on enquiry. Active
participation and immersive activities guide children through our ancient past
hidden within our modern landscapes.
• Celts and Romans: Visit our historic Iron Age hill fort, investigate the key
defensive features of the enclosure, and learn how the Iron Age people would
have lived, worked, and defended the local area against the Roman occupation.

Romans School Trip

The Roman Army Romanisation and ways of life Roman Buildings

Tudors School Trip

Henry VIII Religious Conflict Catholics and Protestants Crime and Punishment English Reformation

Become a History Explorer, during the age of exploration and great voyage! Discover Margam's historical secrets by exploring the grounds of the buildings steeped in stories, including the 19th Century Tudor Gothic Mansion, designed by the architect Thomas Hopper for Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot, the Orangery, and the iconic deer park and surrounding woodlands. Search for clues from the past and immerse yourself in historic Welsh culture.

What size groups do we cater for?

We can cater for groups of varying size. Some courses have a minimum of 10 students. This centre has 142 beds.

On-site classroom facilities?

The centre has five classroom teaching facilities with interactive whiteboards and wireless internet access.

Is there first aid on site?

All our 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.

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

For secondary and A level groups there are a range of geography, biology and environmental science courses available to choose. Courses can be tailored your own requirements to ensure you get the most from your visit and trips utilise our local environment to fully engage students.

Bring your subject to life in the outdoor classroom!

We have special rates for schools in quieter months

Off-peak pricing available

Different price bands are offered throughout the year to offer value for money.Talk to our team about the best options for your group.

Teacher Checklist

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