01460 30144
Magdalen Farm is a leading outdoor education provider with over 25 years experience of working with primary and secondary schools. Schools come to us because of our bespoke programme of activities providing learning through hands-on outdoor adventures, an opportunity to develop multiple skills and create happy, lasting memories. Magdalen staff love what they do and are qualified and experienced, considerate and enthusiastic. We know that flexibility is key when working with each individual and group. We’re a working 132 acre organic farm with people-friendly animals and plenty of safe spaces to explore. The river Axe runs through our farm and with a 22 minute journey from the Jurassic Coast we are a perfect location for field trips.
Every school and every class is different. That’s why we design a bespoke itinerary for each school trip closely liaising with the lead teacher. Nothing comes as standard - apart from great outside learning and fun. Everyone leaves with a smile.
Whatever your students' understanding of the countryside and the natural environment, we will ensure that the learning experience meets their needs. For some of our schools, tangible education and learning is their priority, while for others it is giving the children personal development and new challenges and perspectives.
Schools staying for a residential trip have a choice of:
When your school is here they'll quickly feel at home. You will have a whole building to yourself and no other groups will be in your space.
Find out more about our accommodation and facilities.
We provide homemade satisfying meals for our residential guests - with most food being organic and all eggs and meat coming directly from the farm. The quality of our food is consistently highly rated in school feedback.
Your students can enjoy a range of activities from breakfast through until the evening - there is so much to choose from but caring for the animals and getting hands-on in the vegetable garden are favourites. Please visit the downloads page for further details about the activities and school pacakages we offer.
"Everything was extremely well organised. The tutor showed a strong style of leadership which allowed activities to be in a safe & enjoyable environment. The setting is beautiful and the experience of being on a farm, organic food and the animals is a wonderful opportunity for the children and it has provided our school with a brilliant residential."
- Sholing School
You don’t need to stay overnight to give your class a great learning experience at Magdalen – we run day trips too.
Build dens in our woodlands, hunt for mini-beasts in wildlife meadows, discover the River Axe or feed and care for our farm animals. One of our most popular activities is to learn where good food comes from, tasting home-grown produce from our fruit and vegetable gardens. We've got lots of options for your students to enjoy the wellbeing benefits of a great fun day outdoors.
The curriculum is embedded throughout all activities, providing a perfect opportunity to consolidate, build on or introduce your classroom teaching.
Our most popular school day trip themes are:
Please see our activity choices and give us a call if you would like to talk about your class’s requirements.
"Perfect. The best school trip ever! Every child enjoyed something different, from scarecrow making, pizza making, pizza eating and piglet herding – they had a ball"
- Year 1 teacher, Brookside school, Yeovil
“We all had a great time. The activities were fun, informative and well paced (for both the children and the adults!) and the staff were very friendly and welcoming”
- Year 8 teacher, Maiden Beech Academy
We are inclusive at Magdalen, providing inspiration for all. Learning in the outdoors is for everyone and can help students with special educational needs and disabilites (SEND), Social and Emotional Health (SEMH) needs and neurodiversity. The outdoors relieves stress and anxiety, motivates learning across the curriculum and promotes Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PHSE) education.
Our programmes are entirely bespoke, designed around your students individual needs. We have local special schools and organisations who visit us weekly or fortnightly, others who visit for the day or a one-off residential, with some coming from as far afield as London and the Midlands for their residential. We are also expereinced at working with students with additional needs within mainstream education. Our staff are expereinced, qualified and adaptable.
We have the first fully accessible Mencap gold standard ‘changing place’ on a farm in the U.K. Our network of wheelchair-accessible paths means that the majority of the farm is accessible to all using our Tramper all-terrain wheelchairs.
"I brought a group of Dorset children with disabilities to Magdalen Farm and I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ for such a lovely day. It went very smoothly. Rebecca was our session leader and we did a series of arts based nature activities around the farm. It is such a peaceful and safe location and all the staff were very friendly and helpful. Rebecca was very knowledgeable and informative, great at including all the children whatever their ability and kept the pace of activities just right, flowing from one to the next as soon as the group showed signs of losing focus or concentration. The use of the two trampers to help get two of our group around the site was invaluable too." Dorset Arts Group
Forest School Transitions is a fully funded project offering FREE programmes to students who find the normal rigours of school a challenge. It has especially helped children who find it difficult to make the transition between junior to middle school, or primary to secondary school. So far we have enjoyed considerable success and had a lot of fun.
Most sessions take place within school grounds, with a follow up day at Magdalen Farm, and an optional overnight stay in our residential centre. The outdoors is an inspiring environment to help students develop new skills and build confidence and self-esteem.
Please call us if you are interested.
"I was so impressed with the facilities and provision from Magdalen Farm during their Forest School Transitions program. Our students thoroughly enjoyed all of the sessions and we saw a significant improvement in their behaviour, attitude towards learning and attendance throughout the event. I would highly recommend using Magdalen Farm, the team is professional and caring." St James School - Exeter
Magdalen Farm provides a rich opportunity for field trip students studying at GSCE, A-level and beyond - particularly geography and ecology.
Magdalen Farm's 132 acres offers a mosaic of habitats alongside the banks of the River Axe where Dorset, Somerset and Devon meet. The farm includes meadows, woodland and direct access to the river Axe. We are currently involved in an innovative, large-scale river restoration programme, creating physical changes to the channel and riparian environment to mitigate against flood damage of dwellings further downstream and to create vibrant, biodiverse wetland habitats. Its impressive and there's a lot to see and discuss.
The nearby Jurassic coast and the resorts of Lyme Regis and Charmouth also provide superb hands-on learning opportunities for your field studies.
Magdalen tailor-makes visits to suit your needs. If you are interested in bringing your students please do contact us to discuss requirements. Our staff have a wealth of local knowledge and are available to either lead or support your group.
Let us help you develop your school grounds for environmental education. For our school grounds projects we visit your school and work with small groups of pupils and staff to create long-lasting, unique outdoor features which the whole school community can enjoy. Alternatively we can plan an area for optimum accessibility and low-level maintenance.
.jpg)
Nestled in the heart of the West Country, Magdalen Farm has a range of facilities to suit the needs of different visitors.
Our facilities include all you would expect from a specialist school trips provider, and a little extra:
We care about the indoor and outdoor environment. Indoors has plenty of natural stone and wood and is sympathetically decorated and cared for. We use a biomass boiler to heat the rooms, eco-friendly cleaning products and an ethical procurement policy. Outdoors we are excited to be rewilding, to allow habitats to evolve where nature can thrive. We're learning as we go and would be delighted to share our discoveries with you.
We are now taking reservations for 2025, 2026 and 2027. A selection of dates and accommodation options are on offer.
Please contact us for further details.
© 2024 www.magdalenfarm.org.uk | Site Links
Registered Charity in England and Wales 1002373
