WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre is leading the way at shaping the future of environmental education and how children connect with nature.
SoGlos sits down with its education manager, Sue Belej, to find out how its team is transforming outdoor learning through hands-on sessions, wellbeing experiences and unique winter wildlife encounters.
How does WWT Slimbridge design engaging and educational programmes for everyone from pre-school children to uni students?
As an organisation, we follow a Learning Strategy that guides our themes, session titles and outcomes, aligning them with the National Curriculum and our conservation messages.
To stay relevant and meet the needs of our learning visitors, we work with two strategy groups – one for primary and one for secondary teachers – who share information, offer advice and, most importantly, test anything new we hope to offer.
Since moving the delivery of our sessions outdoors, we have been able to draw on a richer range of resources, including habitats, wildlife and physical structures such as hides and teaching spaces.
In recent years, new exhibits funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and other supporters have given us even more opportunities to share the wider work of WWT first hand, while immersing visitors in the habitat or story – making sure to keep sessions as interactive and hands-on as possible.
For students visiting as part of their college or university courses, we aim to create real life experiences for them based on the units they are studying.
We try to source as much information from lead teachers and lecturers in the run-up to a visit as we can, so we can provide the best experience possible for their pupils or students. I really enjoy that responsibility.
You've recently relaunched Wetland Explorer Days for uniform groups. What can people expect from these days?
With help from Girlguiding Gloucestershire and Gloucestershire Scouting, we updated the content of our Wetland Explorer Day offer and re-launched it for 2025.
The event provides a full day of activities, some aligned with specific badge requirements — such as the Global Issues activity badge for Beavers, the Make Change Skills Builder badge for Brownies and the Naturalist badge for Cubs — while others are taken from our daily offer.
When units book onto an event, they can choose either to complete a Bioblitz in part of the grounds, or to take part in a Plastic Planet workshop in the morning. For the afternoon badge-related activity, units select between pond dipping or making a minibeast hotel to take away.
Each unit receives a bespoke itinerary that includes their chosen workshops alongside elements from our daily programme, such as attending the otter feed and talk, watching our wetland bird demonstration or learning about amphibians in Toad Hall.
As they explore the centre, units can complete an eco-audit, visit the den-building area or make time for the play spaces.
We are now planning our 2026 programme, aiming to run similar events with a few additions, including a dedicated Squirrel Dreys event and a bird-themed day linked to Girlguiding’s new Birdwatching interest badge for Brownies.
WWT Slimbridge has a special winter offer running until the end of February 2026. What makes this season such a special time to visit?
Visiting Slimbridge at this time of year is magical as more than 20,000 extra birds over-winter with us.
The arrival of the Bewick’s swan from the Arctic Tundra signals that winter is truly under way.
Flocks of waders weave across the sky and the sounds of the wetlands create a full sensory experience.
I love sitting in the sky seats in our new Estuary Shore landscape, listening to the birds’ chatter just beyond the wall.
Winter was Sir Peter Scott’s favourite season; he wrote that his home needed to be within sight and sound of the winter wild geese – and I'd encourage more learners to come, make the most of the deal and experience the magic themselves.
WWT Slimbridge has also launched a new Wetlands for Wellbeing session. What inspired this?
Part of our Learning Strategy was shaped by University of Derby research on the importance of connecting with nature and by studies on the Covid lockdown’s impact on children’s mental health.
Evidence shows nature boosts wellbeing, happiness and behaviour, so we created a session focused on supporting children’s Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH).
The session uses mindfulness, storytelling and sensory approaches to support children’s wellbeing while inspiring a love of nature.
We love seeing both children and adults taking the time to connect with nature, you see them relax or get excited and begin to explore their surroundings in more depth. This may also encourage them to share other experiences and quite often we are told this is the 'best day ever!'
Generation Wild has become a flagship nature connection project for WWT Slimbridge. Tell us a bit about that.
Generation Wild uses storytelling, puppetry and innovative technology to connect children from disadvantaged communities with nature, using a visit to a wetland centre as a springboard to further activity in the local community.
One of the main objectives of the project is to monitor and assess its impact on participants. We have a beautiful video available online to watch at generationwild.wwt.org.uk/impact – though you may need a tissue nearby as it is quite an emotional synopsis, but really emphasises why it's one of the best projects to be involved in.
After the visit to Slimbridge pupils are encouraged to take part in nature connection activities with their teachers and families, earning themselves badges. Once 10 badges are awarded, pupils join the Guardians of the Wild, this shows they have really connected with nature.
We ask pupils to write a comment after completing the activity, with highlights including:
'I'm a different, kinder person thanks to Generation Wild.'
'It made me feel happy. I realised going on your iPad isn't everything, there's so many more things in life.'
And teacher comments include:
'Seeing children enjoy time spent outside makes me want to give more of these opportunities to them.'
'It's brilliant to see children who spend most of their lives living in the middle of a large city getting time to interact with nature.'
What future developments or goals do you have for WWT Slimbridge's education programmes in the coming years?
We would love to welcome more learners to visit so they can share and experience what we enjoy every day.
Sir Peter Scott was such as inspirational pioneer of modern conservation and we are putting together a Local Hero session dedicated to his many achievements. Classes can enjoy a pre-booked trip to his family home, mainly spending time in his studio to discover more about this talented and inspiring man.
We're also working on our 2026 events programme for home educators, with more information available via our website and social media channels coming soon.
As an organisation we are very excited by the news of a new Natural History GCSE being launched. We are taking an active role in trying to shape its content by inputting into any consultations and hope to be able to welcome pupils in the future to Slimbridge for fieldwork opportunities as part of the agreed syllabus.
More information about our current learning offer can be found on our website learningzone.wwt.org.uk/slimbridge and information about our events can be found here at wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/slimbridge/whats-on/events.
And get a sneak peak of our winter visitors using our Rushy Lake webcam at wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/slimbridge/webcam.
