Winter Residentials at Leeson House

Winter is an amazing time to visit Leeson House, allowing pupils to enjoy the great outdoors at an affordable cost. During December the house will be decorated, and a Christmas dinner will be served! Plus, with plenty of wellies and waterproofs available, every student can get outside and make the most of the winter weather!

Primary Residentials

• Local Walks - Explore local sites like Old Harry Rocks and Dancing Ledge and get muddy splashing around in puddles, learning tales of smugglers and quarrymen along the way.
•  Bushcraft Skills - Make the perfect shelter out of natural resources in the grounds. Create your very own fire using flint and steels and, in the evening, join us for a campfire under the stars!
•  Night Orienteering - Using maps, clues and teamwork, pupils navigate the Leeson House grounds after dark in an exciting Night Orienteering challenge. A great way to develop confidence, communication and problem-solving skills while enjoying a unique residential experience.
•  Geology Workshop - Explore rocks, soils and fossils in this classroom-based workshop. Learn about the different types of rocks and how they form, investigate soils and get hands on with some real fossils.
•  Animal Trackers - Animal Trackers is a classroom activity which focuses on animal adaptations. Move around the different stations to find out about classification, identify footprints and draw some of our stuffed animals.

Secondary Residentials

• Geography in Action – Experience the Dorset coastline at its most dynamic through fieldwork at a range of contrasting coastal environments. Investigate coastal processes, collect primary data and explore how geology, wave energy and coastal management shape our landscapes. Study low-energy coastal systems at Studland Bay, evaluate management strategies in Swanage, and examine the influence of geology and wave action at Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove.
•  Urban Regeneration – Carry out fieldwork looking at the success of the regeneration scheme on the seafront at Boscombe. Investigate how places change over time and explore the impacts of regeneration on local communities, the economy and the environment.
•  Habitat Ranges – The grounds at Leeson House provide a rich and varied range of habitats, where a wide range of biology units can be taught – introduction to ecology and sampling techniques, woodlice studies, mark and recapture population studies and moth traps.
•  Marine Ecology – Kimmeridge Bay is one of the best places to study marine ecology, offering exceptional opportunities for hands-on fieldwork. The extended low tides provide access to a wide range of rocky shore habitats, allowing students to investigate ecological concepts such as zonation, species distribution and adaptation.

Our Address: 
Leeson House Field Studies Centre
Langton Matravers
Swanage
Dorset
BH19 3EU

Phone: 01929 422126  
Email: leesonhouse@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk