Hampstead Heath has 320 hectares of wild spaces for you and your class to explore. The Heath Life Education Centre provides engaging, active and hands-on learning experiences for your class facilitated by our inspiring outdoor educators, or supports you in discovering the Heath and its wonders through self-guided experiences.
The Heath Life Education Centre provides programmes focussed on nature and wildlife, as well as geography, geology, citizenship, creative arts and sustainability. Please download our programme guides for more information:
While learning with the Heath Life Education Centre is an engaging experience, a self-guided visit to the Heath can be an equally rewarding and insightful event for your students. Regardless of the way in which you choose to visit the Heath, we want to support you and your students in discovering the wildlife which is right on your doorstep.
Full details of our programmes including National curriculum links and learning outcomes can be found below:
Designed to provide a starting foundation for nature and outdoor learning, this session uses sensory games to introduce the natural world to young students. Using games, stories, puppets and nature walks, children will use their five senses to explore the natural world. Our Awesome Autumn, Springy Spring, Wonderful Winter and Super Summer themes provide an all year round experience and give the children an opportunity to gain confidence and an experience of learning outside the classroom.
Top Tip: Book all four season sessions to see the Heath change through the seasons.
Learning outcomes
That the natural environment changes with the seasons, that these changes can be observable.
That natural materials have different colours, sizes, shapes and textures.
That plants and animals adapt to the changing seasons.
That the natural environment produces different sounds, smells, and textures.
National curriculum links
Our programmes are designed to support and augment the national curriculum.
EYFS – Listening and attention, Making relationships, Moving and handling, The world, Being Imaginative
Through the interactive story-telling of the ‘Bugliest Bug’, children get to meet some of the mini-beasts that live on Hampstead Heath. Followed by a hands-on bug-hunting activity and/or pond-dipping in one of our enclosed gardens, the children also explore the places these creatures live and how they look, how they move and even how they feel! The session also contains educational games and role-plays and can be complemented with an art activity.
Top Tip: Book your session for the Spring and Summer months when the wildlife is easier to spot.
Learning outcomes
To learn how and where to look for minibeasts.
To treat animals and the environment with care and sensitivity.
To learn the names of some different minibeasts.
National curriculum links
Our programmes are designed to support and augment the national curriculum.
EYFS – Listening and attention, Making relationships, Moving and handling, The world, Being Imaginative
Key Stage 1 – Science Sc1, Sc2 1, 2a, e, g, 3, 4, 5 Geography 1a-d, 3, 4a-b Citizenship 1b, 2a & g, 4b
Hampstead Heath is a great place to explore the connections between plants, animals and their habitats. Through mini-beast hunts, bird watching, pond dipping and games, learners can have the opportunity to explore nature up-close and in their local environment.
Visiting schools can have the luxury of using one of our two teaching gardens where habitats are maintained specifically for wildlife and provide a safe learning enclosure away from dogs and the general public. These spaces include a safe environment for pond dipping from a wooden platform.
Learning outcomes
To predict animals and plants they might find in up to three different habitats (woods, pond, and meadow).
To identify some differences between these habitats.
To observe and recognise some simple characteristics (adaptations) of animals.
National curriculum links
Our programmes are designed to support and augment the national curriculum.
Key Stage 1 – Science Sc1, Sc2 1, 2a, e, g, 3, 4, 5 Geography 1a-d, 3, 4a-b Citizenship 1b, 2a & g, 4b
Key Stage 2 – Science Sc1, Sc2 1, 3, 4, 5 Geography 1a-d, 3e, 5a-b Citizenship 2a, 4b
Plant life is crucial to human survival and life on planet Earth. It provides us with the food we eat, the clothes on our body, our shelter and the oxygen we breathe. Simply put, animal life wouldn't exist without plants. The great green plant adventure explores plants as living things.
We investigate how they harness energy from the sun to grow, their importance in food chains, relationships between plants and animals and investigate the great diversity of plant life on the planet and Hampstead Heath itself.
Learning outcomes
That plants are essential for human and animal survival.
That plants need air, soil, water and light to grow.
To identify the stages of a plant lifecycle.
National curriculum links
Our programmes are designed to support and augment the national curriculum.
Key Stage 1 – Science Sc1, Sc2 1, 2a,e,g, 3, 4, 5 Geography 3, 4 Citizenship 1b, 2a & g, 4b
Key Stage 2 – Science Sc1, Sc2 1, 3, 4, 5 Geography 5a-b Citizenship 2a, 4b
Orienteering is a cross country race where competitors use a map and compass to find their way through unfamiliar territory.
Hampstead Heath is a great place to undertake different levels of orienteering. The Education Centre runs a mini orienteering course for Key Stage 1, where we teach the basics of map reading, how to use landmarks and how to set a map. For Key Stage 2 students we introduce the compass, scale and route taking.
Top Tip: This programme requires a 1:5 adult to student ratio so get volunteers lined up early!
Learning outcomes
To use landmarks to find themselves on a map.
To plot an orienteering route.
To use appropriate geographical vocabulary.
National curriculum links
Our programmes are designed to support and augment the national curriculum.
Key Stage 1 – Geography 1a-d, 2, 3, 4 Citizenship 2a & g, 3d, 4b Science Sc1
Key Stage 2 – Geography 1a-d, 2, 3f-g Citizenship 2a, 4b Science Sc1
Studying the geology of the Heath can open the secrets to this varied and historic landscape. The different types of soil which occur at the surface of the Heath influence the plant life and the water bodies found here. The Heath Beneath our Feet session explores the soils of the Heath and how they were formed. We engage all learners through games, hands-on experiments and exercises to gain an understanding of the characteristics of rocks and soils.
Top Tip: This programme can get muddy! Make sure students, and adults alike, are dressed suitably.
Learning outcomes
That soils can be grouped according to observable characteristics.
That soils can have different permeability.
That the soils of the Heath have had an influence on its appearance, determining waterways and plant life, and through past uses, such as sand mining and brick building.
National curriculum links
Our programmes are designed to support and augment the national curriculum.
Key Stage 1 – Science Sc1, Sc3 1, 2a Citizenship 2a & g, 4b Geography 1a-d, 3, 4
Key Stage 2 – Science Sc1, Sc3 1a, 3a Citizenship 2a, 4b Geography 1ad
Nature and life processes have been an inspiration to artists for thousands of years, from the cave paintings in Lascaux to the modern day earth artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and David Nash.
This creative session gives learners the opportunity to engage with nature as never before. By looking at other artists work, their ideas and methods, students will have an opportunity to build on their knowledge of nature and life processes by making art in the outdoors.
Learning cutcomes
To record observations and feelings of the natural environment through first-hand experience and observation.
To represent observations and ideas through natural sculpture.
That creative themes and natural processes have inspired artists through the ages.
National curriculum links
Our programmes are designed to support and augment the national curriculum.
EYFS – Mathematics, Art & Design, Physical Development, Communication & Language
Key Stage 1 – Art & Design 1a, 2a & c, 3a, 4 Citizenship 1b, 1e, 2g, 3b Geography 3c, 4a, 5a
Key Stage 2 – Art & Design 1a, 2c, 3a, 4 Geography 1a, 4a, 5a
When people come to the Heath, what do they come here to do? Is their visit going to have a positive or negative impact on their environment? What else is having an effect on the Heath?
This session looks at how the Heath has been changed by people over centuries, how we are currently changing it and how it might change in the future. You will also learn about what effect climate change may have on the Heath and how invasive species, such as the ring-necked parakeets, are altering the biodiversity.
Learning outcomes
That human influence has shaped and changed the Heath over the years.
Some of the positive and negative effects that human influence has had on the Heath.
How to evaluate own findings and observations.
National curriculum links
Our programmes are designed to support and augment the national curriculum.
Key Stage 2 – Science Sc1, Sc2 1c, 3, 4, 5 Citizenship 4b Geography 1ad, 2b, 3, 4b, 5a-d
This programme is only offered at Golders Hill Park Zoo.
Students will discover butterflies and their lifecycles through a tour of our butterfly house, meeting exotic butterfly species up close. The session will then visit our native butterfly garden to learn about ways to enhance butterfly habitats in our own back gardens.
Interactive games and activities help to highlight and enliven butterfly life cycles and ecology.
Learning outcomes
That living things in the locality can be grouped according to observable similarities and differences.
Butterflies do not look the same throughout their life, they have a cycle where they can look different at different stages of their life.
Caterpillars and butterflies eat plants.
National curriculum links
Our programmes are designed to support and augment the national curriculum.
EYFS – Understanding the World, Making relationships, Listening and attention
Key Stage 1 – Science Sc1, Sc2 1, 2a, e, g, 3, 4, 5 Geography 1a-d, 3, 4a-b Citizenship 1b, 2a & g, 4b
Key Stage 2 – Science Sc1, Sc2 1, 3, 4, 5 Geography 1a-d, 3e, 5a-b Ctizenship 2a, 4b
We offer a range of science based programmes at Golders Hill Park Zoo focusing on our animal collection.
Who’s Like You at the Zoo? – EYFS
This programme focuses on the theme of ‘similarities and differences of humans and animals’ as a key learning outcome of the early years curriculum.
The session builds on the student’s ability to recognise similarities and differences by putting these observations into context with diverse organisms found in the zoo. A range of learning styles are catered for through an exciting mix of interactive games and activities, story-telling and drama to bring to life the concepts being taught.
Learning outcomes
That living things in the locality can be grouped according to observable similarities and differences.
That some living things in other countries are different to living things in the UK.
That living things in a zoo should be respected and cared for.
National curriculum links
Our programmes are designed to support and augment the national curriculum.
EYFS – Listening and attention, Making relationships, Moving and handling, The world, Being Imaginative
Zoo-daptations – KS2
Learning about adaptations can be difficult without concrete, living examples to put the learning into context. Golders Hill Park Zoo offers a range of opportunities to understand the various adaptations that creatures have developed in their local environments.
Through a variety of games and interactive activities, students will solidify their learning of the concept of adaptation. This concept will be highlighted through various zoo animals, with students making important observations.
Learning outcomes
To observe and recognise some adaptations of animals.
To treat animals and the environment with care and sensitivity.
To recognise that animals in different environments have different adaptations.
National curriculum links
Our programmes are designed to support and augment the national curriculum.
Key Stage 2 – Science Sc1, Sc2 1, 3, 4, 5 Geography 1a-d, 3e, 5a-b Citizenship 2a, 4b
Up, Up and Away! – KS2
Flight is an important evolutionary adaptation of birds but also an important human technology. Flight allows birds and insects to survive through being able to move to sources of food, water and mates.
This exciting cross-curricular session combines the concepts of adaptation and the physics of flight to provide a rounded explanation of flight as a key evolutionary development in birds. The session builds on the student’s knowledge of adaptations to environments to understand the relationships between wing shapes, flight patterns and behaviour.
Learning outcomes
To observe and recognise some adaptations of animals.
To understand the basics of the physics of flight .
To recognise flight as an important evolutionary adaptation of birds and insects.
National curriculum links
Our programmes are designed to support and augment the national curriculum.
Key Stage 2 – Science Sc1, Sc2 1, 3, 4, 5 Geography 1a-d, 3e, 5a-b Citizenship 2a, 4b