The Roman Baths continues to be top of the class for educational visits after retaining its Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge.
Awarded by national charity the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom, the Quality Badge combines learning and safety in a standard certificate for all organisations providing learning outside the classroom experiences.
The Roman Baths has been successful in renewing its Quality Badge status – an accolade which is also held by Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Fashion Museum and Victoria Art Gallery.
Councillor Cherry Beath (Lib-Dem, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “Retaining the Quality Badge is a real boost for all the staff working in Bath & North East Somerset Council’s heritage attractions as it shows that we continue to offer children and young people the type of high quality learning experiences they really benefit from. We’re thrilled to have official recognition for our efforts and we look forward to welcoming even more children and young people to our interesting and enjoyable venues.”
Taking learning beyond the classroom walls makes the educational experience more memorable and appealing to different learning styles. In a survey conducted for travel firm TUI’s Education Division, 99 per cent of teachers said that students are more animated and engaged when learning outside the classroom.
Ofsted has reported that learning outside the classroom can contribute significantly to raising standards and improving pupils’ personal, social and emotional development, as well as being crucial to delivering a broad and balanced curriculum.
The Quality Badge was launched in 2009 as part of the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto, a national initiative to ensure young people are given more opportunities to have these experiences as part of the curriculum.
The Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge is designed to make it easier for teachers to identify providers of quality educational visits. Organisations display the Quality Badge as a signal to schools that their venue has met the required standards, so teachers do not need to carry out their own risk or quality assessments.
Beth Gardner, Chief Executive of the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom, said: “Educational visits are among the most memorable experiences in a child’s school life. The Quality Badge offers teachers a guarantee that not only is a venue providing the sort of educational value that they can build on in class long after the visit but they also have the appropriate risk management structures in place.
“Learning outside the classroom has many proven educational benefits. The Quality Badge will reduce red tape and provide assurance for schools, thereby ensuring that many more young people have memorable, exciting and valuable learning outside the classroom experiences. I congratulate the Roman Baths on being awarded the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge.”
For more information, or to book an educational visit to the Roman Baths, telephone 01225 477785, email [email protected] or visit http://www.romanbaths.co.uk.
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Tom Boden
Wednesday 2nd November, 2011 at 16:30Readers might also be interested to know that the Building of Bath Collection is another museum in Bath that has also recently retained its Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge. For more information, please visit our website http://www.bptlearning.org.uk.