Our animals provide a fantastic opportunity for hands-on, exciting learning experiences for all ages.
Based in our classroom, we offer talks to schools and other organised groups on a variety of topics and themes, each of which is filled to the brim with fun facts and awesome encounters.
Each exciting session, designed by our award-winning education team, allows supervised contact with some live animals and a range of artefacts and has been designed to meet national curriculum objectives in an engaging and memorable way.
If you are interested in any of our education sessions or have a question, please email us.
Our education sessions are 45 to 60 minutes long with a range of topics to choose from.
The animals used in these sessions are trained and handled on a daily basis and therefore pose minimal risk to school groups. These animals often include bugs and snakes. At Tilgate Zoo we want to encourage positive attitudes to all animal life, be it cute and fluffy or scaly and gnarly! Alternatively, you may wish to do a self-led visit around the zoo.
Available topics are:
Adaptations
Classification
Diets
Habitats
Minibeasts
Senses
Conservation
Evolution
Predators and prey
Reproduction and life cycles
Secondary school visits
For secondary schools we can run careers sessions where we look at four animal-based careers including zookeeping, veterinary practice and conservation. Here we cover what each role entails through various activities alongside our animals.
SEN school visits
We run zoo tours for SEN school groups. These are approximately 20 minutes long and look at a few popular animals. Depending on individual needs, we can adapt the length and content of these sessions as appropriate to ensure all involved get the most from their experience. We require a minimum of six children to run a tour.
If you need access to our disabled parking bays you must pre-book by email. his should be done at least a week in advance of your visit so we can let the admissions staff know to expect you.
Nursery and pre-school visits
We cannot offer animal encounter sessions for nursery groups due to the risks involved when handling animals. Instead, we offer short talks about either our meerkats or reindeer, or our Tilgate Tales storytime sessions.
Home schooling and other groups
We also offer education sessions for groups including homeschooling, scouting and girl guiding, and other interest clubs. If you are interested in booking an education sessionfor your group, you can book in the same way as schools. Alternatively, you may wish to book a self-led visit for your group. See below for booking details.
Virtual education
Not local or can’t travel? We can also offer our school workshops as virtual live or pre-recorded sessions and bring the zoo to you.Email us to find out more.
