We cater for visits by all educational establishments from pre-school to university level, not only within the Stockton LEA but the wider Tees Valley and the rest of the North-East of England. The same subsidised visiting costs apply to all educational visits no matter where the establishment is located. We offer a variety of National Curriculum based star shows, purely entertainment based star show (or a mixture of the two) as well as offering other activities to make a day of your visit.
The Planetarium & Observatory are a non-profit making service area within the Care for Your Area section of Development and Neighbourhood Services, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. We are a subsidised service area and try to offer our services at a minimum cost to all. Current charges for astronomical activity sessions and joint ranger visits at Wynyard Woodland Park are:
Star Show - £2.00 per pupil
Other (staff led) activity - £1.50 per pupil
This is subject to a minimum booking fee which is currently £30, for groups of less than 15 pupils this minimum fee will apply per activity session, otherwise visits are charged at a price per pupil. Admission is free for accompanying educators & adults acting in loco-parentis.
Although the planetarium is equiped to seat 72, we rarely use this capacity for star shows (only lectures) for a variety of reasons to do with comfort and class control. The maximum we recommend for a star show is in the region of 40 children, for larger classes or more than one class we recommend a day visit, please read-on (below) for details. The capacity of the Railway Carriage schoolroom is limited to 30 children. If in doubt about numbers and what we can accommodate please call us to discuss your requirements.
By far the largest cost in visiting the Planetarium & Observatory will be transport to the site. To make a visit worthwhile many educators decide to make a day visit to Wynyard Woodland Park with one or two classes enjoying two activity sessions separated by a lunch break. These visits can be purely astronomy based with a solar walk, celestial kitchen or craft activity juxtaposed with a Planetarium star show. Alternatively they can combine one of our activities with the park rangers for or joint-ranger environmental session. Please note that joint ranger visits are booked through the park rangers on +44 (0) 1740 630011. Should the weather be inclement or you would just like to have a base for your visit, the Railway Carriage schoolroom can usually be booked for a small additional charge.
External visits by staff to education establishments are possible, as are virtual classroom sessions (particularly when using Web Telescopes). We also offer some of our craft activities as external visits, such as building & flying rockets and space shuttles. However, wherever possible, when talking about space, astronomy, observing and the National Curriculum we encourage schools to visit the Planetarium. Please call the Planetarium on +44 (0) 1740 630544 for details of charges for external visits.
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