Have you considered the West
Wickham & Coulsdon Commons for an educational visit? These
open spaces offer a variety of different opportunities for
learning. Their history is revealed in features as varied as
Iron Age field boundaries, Saxon tombs and a Second World War
airfield. All of them have interesting landscape features, and
fauna and flora that include a number of rare plants and
animals. The City of London is working hard to manage them in
a sustainable way, so there are also a lot of opportunities
for students to look at ecologically sound land management
practices, learn about all the different ways that the land
has been used in the past 2,000 years, and discuss what the
future should be.
Teachers, youth leaders and parents
To help you with your visit, download one of the educational
activity sheets below. There is one for each of the open spaces,
and they are targeted at upper primary age children (Key Stage Two;
aged 7-11) – although there are many ideas that could be adapted
and used with both older and younger children. The activities are
National Curriculum linked and cross curricular, with links into
Science, History, Art & Design, Geography, English and
Citizenship. Some activities are designed for the open air, on a
visit to the commons, but others are intended for follow up work in
the classroom or at home.
If you are planning a visit with a school or youth group, do
contact the Rangers before you come. The Rangers will be happy to
give you advice about such matters as accessibility, and it may be
possible to arrange for your group to have a Ranger to guide you
and organise activities.
Download the Educational Resource Sheets for your local
site:
Farthing Downs & New
Hill (989kb)
Coulsdon Common (247kb)
Kenley Common (15mb)
Riddlesdown (470kb)
Spring Park (1.4mb)
West Wickham Common (229kb)