Education Report for September 2024 – August 2025
The education provision at Singleton Environment Centre is delivered by the Education Officer and the Educational Assistant. The school visits and workshops and planned and delivered by the Education Officer. The pre-school weekly sessions are planned and delivered by the Educational Assistant. The events days are planned by the Education Officer and delivered by both staff members.
The financial support of £18,000 for the year has continued from Great Chart with Singleton Parish Council and goes towards staffing for events, one day’s pay per week for the Education Officer and towards resourcing the educational events. Funding was also secured for the school workshops programme that is delivered within schools. £1,500 was donated by Furley Park, £1,500 was donated by Kingsnorth Primary and £1,000 was donated by Godinton Charitable Trust.
School and Group Visits
All school educational visits and group visits continue to be bespoke to each group’s learning objectives and aims for the trip. They include practical learning with the children experiencing first hand nature related learning opportunities including pond dipping, scavenger hunts, factual learning, planting, nature arts and crafts, den building, team games and site exploration.
Seven schools returned following visits in the previous academic year(s) and 5 schools visited for the first time. We also ran workshops within 2 schools this year for the first time. The workshops to Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One were on Habitats and how animals have adapted for the habitat they live in. The workshops to Key Stage Two were on Climate Change. In total 1549 pupils were taught by the Education Team this academic year. Two charities returned this summer for activity days run at the Centre by our Education Officer.
Tuesday 4th February – Beaver Green Primary
Monday 24th March – Kingsnorth Primary School; workshops in school
Wednesday 25th March – Kingsnorth Primary School; workshops in school
Tuesday 29th April – Lady Joanna Thornhill Primary School
Thursday 1st May – John Wesley School
Wednesday 14th May – Louise Taggart Childminders
Friday 16th May – Furley Park Primary Academy
Tuesday 20th May – St Andrews School
Wednesday 21st May – Furley Park Primary Academy; workshops in school
Thursday 22nd May – Furley Park Primary Academy; workshops in school
Tuesday 10th June – St Mary’s Church of England Primary
Tuesday 17th June – Willesborough Infant School
Wednesday 18th June – Willesborough Infant School
Monday 23rd June – Louise Taggart Childminders
Tuesday 24th June – Ashford Prep School
Wednesday 25th June – Kingsnorth Primary School
Tuesday 1st July – St Teresas Catholic Primary School
Wednesday 2nd July – John Wallis Academy
Tuesday 8th July – Chilmington Green Secondary School
Thursday 31st July – Mind Mid Kent
Thursday 7th August – Kent Family Hubs
Educational Events
Our pre-school nature group, Buggin’ About, runs every Friday in term time. The group is aimed at children aged 2.5 years +. Each week has a different theme to introduce children to a wide range of nature topics. Activities include nature crafts, mud kitchen, water play, firepit, exploration, pond dipping, scavenger hunts and bug hunts. Numbers each week have normally been fully booked at 16 children.
Term dates: 13/09, 20/09, 27/09, 04/10, 11/10, 18/10, 25/10
08/11, 15/11, 22/11, 29/11, 06/12, 13/12
17/01, 24/01, 31/01, 07/02, 14/02
28/02, 07/03, 14/03, 21/03, 28/03, 04/04
25/04, 02/05, 09/05, 16/05, 23/05
06/06, 13/06, 20/06, 04/07, 11/07, 18/07
In total the Education Team has hosted 1169 participants over 47 events. We have also run events at the McArthur Glen Ashford Designer Outlet as part of our charity of the year partnership. We also ran a stall with activities at the Great Chart with Singleton Parish Council’s annual Big Lunch event as part of our ongoing partnership.
September
Sunday 15th – Prosecco with Jewellery x 7 adults
An adult workshop to learn how to make upcycled bracelets and necklaces.
Friday 20th – An Introduction to Astronomy x 36 people (over 8’s, mostly adults)
An evening event including an introductory talk from The Ashford Astronomical Society, a jacket potato supper, a chance to look at the night sky through telescopes and themed craft activities.
October
Sunday 27th – Prosecco with Fused Glass x 12 adults
An adult workshop to learn how to work with glass to design and create a fused glass snowflake ornament.
Tuesday 29th – Nature Stories: Room on the Broom x 20 children with their parents/carers
An immersive storytelling session with nature craft activities to bring the story alive. Participants designed witch/wizard hats, hunted for the witch’s missing hairbows, made stick wands, created clay bog monsters and made broomsticks.
Thursday 31st – Brilliant Bats x 40 children with parents/carers over 2 sessions
A family friendly Halloween session learning bat facts, decorating wooden bats, making bat pinatas from recycled materials and answering bat related questions on a nature trail.
November
Saturday 9th – Christmas Craft Evening x 28 adults
An evening event with a range of festive craft activities available – fused glass ornaments, decoupage card making, gel plate wrapping paper and tag printing, handsewn fabric tree decorations, pyrography wooden tree decorations, upcycled jewellery making.
Sunday 24th – Prosecco with Lino Cuts x 6 adults
An adult workshop to learn how to create festive themed stampers for printing cards, tags and wrapping paper.
December
Tuesday 3rd – Lunch with Santa x 22 children with their parents/carers
Festive games and craft activities with a lunch and storytime with Santa.
Tuesday 3rd – Tea with Santa x 21 children with their parents/carers
An after school session of festive games and craft activities with a tea and storytime with Santa.
Sunday 8th & Saturday 14th – Elf Help x 34 children with their parents/carers over 4 sessions
A festive session full of games, activities and crafting.
Tuesday 10th – Remarkable Reindeers x 18 children with their parents/carers
A session for pre-school children to make a wooden reindeer, a wooden tree decoration, learn facts about reindeers and make reindeer food.
January
Saturday 25th – Brilliant Birds x 18 children with their parents/carers over 2 sessions
A session to build a birds nest out of natural materials.
February
Saturday 1st – Terrapy x 14 adults
An adult workshop to learn about the history of terrariums and to make a terrarium to take home.
Wednesday 19th – Nature Stories: Aliens Love Underpants x 20 children with their parents/carers
An immersive storytelling session with nature craft activities to bring the story alive. Participants made alien masks, searched the centre grounds for missing pants, created a junk model spaceship, played pants themed games and designed and built a clay alien.
Thursday 20th – Character Lunch with Paw Pals x 25 children with parents/carers over 2 sessions
Lunch with fire and police themed games, activities and craft.
Friday 21st – Book Art x 24 children with parents/carers over 2 sessions
A session to teach participants how to create a book hedgehog by page folding and decorating wooden bookmarks.
March
Sunday 16th – Prosecco with Pyrography x 10 adults
An adult workshop to learn how to use wood burning tools.
April
Saturday 5th – Bird Walk x 12 adults
An adult session to learn how to identify local birds by sight and sound as well as learning facts about the birds.
Thursday 10th – Character Lunch with Mr P. Rabbit x 30 children with parents/carers
An Easter themed lunch with rabbit themed games, activities and craft.
Friday 11th – Jaws n Claws x 158 over 5 sessions
Family friendly animal handling sessions to learn fun facts about reptiles. One SEND friendly session run.
Friday 11th & Thursday 17th – Natural Egg Making
A drop in free session run at the McArthur Glen Ashford Designer Outlet to decorate cardboard egg shapes with natural materials.
Tuesday 15th – Nature Stories: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt x 20 children with parents/carers
An immersive storytelling session with nature craft activities to bring the story alive. Participants made a grass head character, went pond dipping, made a stick puppet bear, created a clay bear, danced in ‘snow’ bubbles and searched for mini bear keyrings.
Wednesday 16th – Wild Wednesday x 20 children
A drop and leave outdoor activity day including pond dipping, den building, team games and nature craft.
Friday 18th – Easter Fun x 60 children with parents/carers over 3 sessions
A family fun session to decorate a wooden egg decoration, a ‘real egg’ nature trail and egg themed games.
Saturday 26th – Pond Dipping x 36 children with parents/carers
A drop in family friendly session to discover what is living in the centre’s pond.
May
Tuesday 27th – Tshirt Designers x 8 children
A drop and leave session for children to design and create a spray paint tshirt.
Wednesday 28th – Wild Wednesday x 18 children
A drop and leave outdoor activity day including pond dipping, den building, team games and nature craft.
Thursday 29th – Nature Stories: Superworm x 20 children with parents/carers
An immersive storytelling session with nature craft activities to bring the story alive. Participants designed and made a superhero cape, dug for treasure, made a spider web dreamcatcher, played superworm games and made a paperchain superworm.
June
Saturday 21st – Birds, Butterflies and Bloomers x 3 adults
A local nature walk to learn facts and how to identify local birds, butterflies and flowers.
July
Sunday 6th – Prosecco with Cyanotypes x 10 adults
An adult workshop to learn how to sun print and to design and create a tote bag to take home.
Sunday 13th – The Big Lunch
An information stall at the local Parish annual event with fundraising Minecraft themed games.
Thursday 24th – Summer Flowers
A drop in session run at McArthur Glen Designer Outlet Centre to paint a wooden flower fridge magnet and decorate a flowerpot and fill it with wild flower seeds.
Friday 25th – Make It Day x 25 children with parents/carers
A session where participants can decorate an item of their choice from hats, tote bags, pencil cases or make up bags.
Monday 28th – Buggin’ About Family Special x 16 children with parents/carers
A summer special session of our pre-school nature group. Pre-school children got the chance for outdoor play and exploration with their siblings and family including mud kitchen, water play and nature craft.
Tuesday 29th – Nature Stories: Aliens Love Underpants x 19 children with parents/carers
An immersive storytelling session with nature craft activities to bring the story alive. Participants made alien masks, searched the centre grounds for missing pants, created a junk model spaceship, played pants themed games and designed and built a clay alien.
August
Tuesday 5th – Pond Dipping x 72 children with parents/carers
A family friendly session to discover what is living in the centre pond.
Wednesday 6th – Wild Wednesday x 18 children
A drop and leave outdoor activity day including pond dipping, den building, team games and nature craft.
Tuesday 12th – Summer Flowers
A drop in session run at McArthur Glen Designer Outlet Centre to paint a wooden flower fridge magnet and decorate a flowerpot and fill it with wild flower seeds.
Wednesday 13th – Wild Wednesday x 18 children
A drop and leave outdoor activity day including pond dipping, den building, team games and nature craft.
Thursday 14th – Buggin’ About Family Special x 12 children with parents/carers
A summer special session of our pre-school nature group. Pre-school children got the chance for outdoor play and exploration with their siblings and family including mud kitchen, water play and nature craft.
Friday 15th – Jaws and Claws x 155 participants over 5 sessions
Family friendly animal handling sessions to learn fun facts about reptiles. One SEND friendly session run.
Tuesday 19th – Nature Stories: Gruffalo x 20 children with parents/carers
An immersive storytelling session with nature craft activities to bring the story alive. Participants made a mouse mask, a cardboard and wool fox, a pinecone owl, a paper plate snake and a toilet roll Gruffalo.
Wednesday 20th – Wild Wednesday x 16 children
A drop and leave outdoor activity day including pond dipping, den building, team games and nature craft.
Wednesday 27th – Wild Wednesday x 18 children
A drop and leave outdoor activity day including pond dipping, den building, team games and nature craft.
Thursday 28th – Clay Creatures x 12 children
A creative session where children, after being inspired by the wildlife within the Centre grounds, learnt how to sculpt clay creatures and decorate them with natural materials.