Working with young people

Many museums in the Chilterns offer visits, assemblies, trips and workshops for schools, such as Chiltern Open Air Museum, Chiltern Rangers, Amersham and Wycombe Museums, Path Hill Outdoors.

Explore more on our interactive map

The Chilterns Chalk Streams Project’s Trout in the Classroom programme works with a limited number of classes, where pupils are given a rare, hands-on opportunity to connect with the life cycle of one of our most iconic chalk stream species – the brown trout.

Each participating class receives an aquarium containing trout eggs or young fry. Over several weeks, the children take on the role of caretakers, monitoring water quality, observing the developing fish, and learning how small changes in environment can affect freshwater wildlife.

Alongside the aquarium, the project provides everything the schools need: equipment, workshops, and a guided river visit. This helps pupils see the connection between their classroom observations and the natural habitats the trout will return to. Many schools weave the project into their wider curriculum, with pupils producing artwork, creative writing, and scientific investigations inspired by their trout.

Then the most anticipated moment comes: releasing the young trout into their new chalk stream home. Watching the fish swim away brings the project full circle, giving pupils a powerful sense of connection to their local environment and a lasting appreciation for the importance of protecting it.

Chiltern Rangers offer a variety of opportunities for schools and other groups of young people.

Their Be A Ranger Taster Day is a good way of getting to know them, and introduces young people to the world of conservation and making a difference to the local environment. They partner with schools, colleges and youth organisations serving young people of a wide variety of ages and needs. Together with your team, dedicated ranger(s) will look after a class/half class/group for a session at a special wildlife site close to where they live. They offer a whole variety of activities at different times of year including:

• Woodland coppicing or glade creation
• Scrub management on chalk grassland butterfly sites
• Litter blitzes on land and in rivers
• School wildlife area development
• Summer Habitat Investigations to bring your science curriculum alive

For those with additional needs – their Stepping Stones to Employability  programme enables numerous young people to become involved in a wide variety of conservation opportunities that have helped them grow and realise their true potential. Watch their video explainer on their webpage.

ZSL Whipsnade offers a wide range of free, curriculum-linked educational activities for school groups to enjoy during the summer term. These include interactive drop-in sessions led by the Conservation Education Team throughout the Zoo on the day of your visit, teacher-led trail guides packed with questions and activities to enhance students’ learning, key stage-specific animal talks running throughout the day, and much more.

The Field Studies Council offers a range of trips for primary and secondary in Amersham, and many others around the country.

Workshops and support for schools to become zero carbon – there may also be local council based initiatives for schools, such as Dacorum climate network, near you.

School visits – an education visit to Earth Trust in Oxfordshire offers the opportunity for young people to take their classroom based learning and come to understand its importance in a real world setting. Curriculum linked Earth School environmental education workshops have been developed with teachers in mind, with a focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), the Arts and Human History for Key Stages 1-4.

‘Earth Skills’ programme – offering a Life Skills strand, or a Countryside Skills course which empowers young people to make positive choices for themselves through practical, hands-on outdoor activities such as improving wildlife habitats and working with farm animals. 

The Mend the Gap programme has supported many schools through grants and activities, such as enhancing outdoor equipment, installing barn owl boxes, farm to fork projects, pond and wildlife enhancements on sites.

The Chilterns Chalk Streams Project works with schools through educational visits, both in the classroom and in the field, as well as through its Trout in the Classroom scheme. It has also developed a range of resources for primary and secondary schools, including a suite of videos explaining the nature of chalk streams and pressures facing these important and iconic river systems.

In May 2022, Chalk, Cherries and Chairs held a Chilterns Landscapes festival, showcasing the relationship between artists of all abilities and the gently undulating, rich chalk landscape of the Central Chilterns. The art exhibition was held at Wycombe Museum for a week and consisted of three parts; a selection of fine art from local and national museums (reproduced), a schools art competition and a sample of work from local and amateur artists.

Not Bourne Yesterday is a project in development which together with partners and volunteers, aims to tell story of the Chilterns’ precious rivers with the everyday lives of the people – past, present and future – who live alongside them. As part of the programme, they have been looking at ways to create employment opportunities for young people to gain access to a career in conservation, and hope to establish several traineeships, if the programme is successful in securing its funding.