In the three years since Outdoor Ted began operating, more than 1,000 pupils have enjoyed educational visits to the Drax-owned Skylark Centre within the Barlow Nature Reserve as part of their studies at school.
By creating new and exciting educational experiences based around the National Curriculum in outdoor settings, Outdoor Ted makes learning more accessible and fun for pupils, resulting in positive feedback from teachers and repeat bookings.
The latest packages being developed for schools are aimed at helping to deliver education across all areas of the curriculum including history, geography and maths.
Outdoor Ted’s Owner, Stacey Howard said:
“Being able to use Drax’s Skylark Centre at the Nature Reserve has been a fantastic opportunity for us and the school groups we bring with us. With over a hundred species and great access provided by the team at Drax, Skylark’s a huge asset which we’re excited to continue to use.”
Drax’s Educational Tours team also offers free tours of the neighbouring power station – the UK’s largest renewable power generator – making for a fun-packed, day-long, school visit, during which students also learn about how electricity is produced, promoting science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects.
Drax Group’s Head of Sustainable Business, Vicky’s Bullivant said:
“The work we do with Outdoor Ted is all part of how we’re inspiring the next generation. Inviting young people to use our facilities at Drax provides an inspirational place to learn.
“Encouraging children of all ages to be interested at school, particularly in STEM subjects, helps to boost education and skills and develop the talented workforce needed for businesses like ours to continue to develop and grow in the future.”
The Skylark Centre is within the Barlow Nature Reserve owned by Drax, which is home to a variety of wildlife including deer, sheep, herons and skylarks, it even houses a swan sanctuary. It is open for the community to enjoy throughout the year with a number of community events and activities organised by Drax which the public can book onto.
For more information about visiting Drax’s Skylark Visitor Centre please visit the website here.
ENDS
Media contacts:
Ali Lewis
Drax Group Head of Media & PR
E: [email protected]
T: 07712670888
Selina Williams
Drax Group Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07912230393
About Outdoor Ted
Outdoor Ted provides exciting and new ways to access the National Curriculum outside the classroom and having been joined by Sarah Needham, an experienced primary teacher, these can also now be delivered in schools maximising school grounds by delivering sessions on site. Arrows Archery, Bird I.D and campfire cooking are already proving popular at during school time and after school clubs.
- Outdoor Ted is owned by Stacey Howard who has over 20 years of experience working in primary schools. Stacey she is passionate about getting children in the outdoors not only to learn about nature but to build resilience with a range of high-quality team building, problem solving, campfire cooking and shelter building activities.
- The Skylark Nature Reserve is also home to Yorkshire Swan Rescue Hospital, a charity run by Dan Sibley M.B.E. When Dan is not out rescuing injured animals, he shows visiting schools around the hospital and chat with the children about caring for injured animals.
If any schools are interested in the delivery of Outdoor Ted please contact [email protected] and visit www.outdoorted.co.uk for more details.
About Drax
Drax Group’s ambition is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Its 2,600-strong employees operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production.
Power generation:
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of flexible, low carbon and renewable electricity generation assets across Britain. The assets include the UK’s largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies five percent of the country’s electricity needs.
Having converted two thirds of Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become the UK’s biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.
Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include Cruachan Power Station – a flexible pumped storage facility within the hollowed-out mountain Ben Cruachan. It also owns and operates four gas power stations in England.
For more information visit www.drax.com/uk
Customers:
Drax owns two B2B energy supply businesses:
- Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity and energy services to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.
- Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity, energy services and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.
Pellet production:
Drax owns and operates three pellet mills in the US South which manufacture compressed wood pellets (biomass) produced from sustainably managed working forests. These pellet mills supply around 20% of the biomass used by Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses.
For more information visit www.drax.com/uk
