School Visits

School Visits to the Pier

Clevedon Pier and Heritage Trust welcomes visits by schools and education groups. The Pier provides many learning opportunities and diverse themes, such as heritage, local history, inspiring stories, engineering and understanding of the environment, to spark interest and creativity in children. The Pier also offers excellent space in the Porthole Room and the new Bell Room for learning activities.

Educational resources

The Pier is building up educational resources which can be accessed on-line. Historical and geographical information is available on the Clevedon Pier website (www.Clevedonpier.com). Working in collaboration with Local Learning in Bristol and funded by Historic England several activities designed for primary age children have been developed. They can be found here. This learning resource is a celebration of Clevedon Pier and the struggles it has overcome to earn that unique status. The resources provide insights into the architecture and history of the Pier and efforts of the community to preserve the Pier. It is anticipated that further resources will become available so look for updates and additions on the Pier’s education web pages.

There are also information boards on and near the Pier linked to web resources on the history of the Pier, wildlife, geological and minerals which can be used to inform learning activities. Take a look at these other information resources on our web site.

Teacher-led visits

Visits will be self-guided and teacher-led. Volunteers at the Pier can provide basic information on the location of the toilets, places to leave bags and can answer logistical questions.. In time we aspire to provide more support for the educational activities.

Booking and planning the visit

School visits must be booked at least 2 weeks in advance. On our online booking form (link below) you will be asked to complete a simple online form and to specify the time of arrival, duration of the visit, year group of pupils, number of pupils and number of accompanying responsible adults. Fees are £2.50 per child with adults free and are to be paid prior to the visit. We request a minimum of one adult per 6 pupils. Normally the maximum number of pupils in a visit is 60 or two classes. The contact details of the school and lead teacher are requested in case the visit has to be cancelled unexpectedly, typically due to bad weather. Note that decisions to close the Pier due to dangerous weather conditions can be made at a late stage. The visit can then be rescheduled. Following booking the name of the supporting volunteer will be sent to the school. We recommend a pre-visit recce (even if you know the Pier).

To arrange a school visit please fill out this booking form and email it to enquiries@clevedonpier.com.

Safety and Risk assessment

Clevedon Pier is a historic building and as such has uneven walk ways and is in an exciting location. We aim to make our historic site as accessible and safe as possible. All schools are expected to carry out a risk assessment for the visit. We provide some guidelines, available here,  to help schools identify risks. Please note that the guide is not a Risk Assessment – as a school, education group,

please complete your own risk assessment based on the learners who will be visiting the pier. The contents of this safety and hazard identification guide is there to support your risk assessment. There is also a code of conduct for visits to the Pier which can be downloaded here and must be adhered to.

It is a condition of the visit that visit leaders have read the health and safety guidelines and the code of conduct prior to the visit.

We have produced in co-operation with Local Learning a picture of the Pier with five dangerous activities. Schools can use this picture to enable pupils to identify key risks before their visit.

Other risks for you to consider are listed here. 

Travelling to Clevedon Pier

Guidance on how to get to the Pier and where to park can be found here.