School Visits & Teacher Guidance
A great opportunity to discover.
A visit to Otford village can provide an opportunity for teachers, within the safety of the village, to stimulate the imagination of their class with stories connected with the many ancient homes. Palace, poor house, manor court, wheel-wright, tanners and many more. All are here. Otford offers limitless opportunities to discover what life was like before iphones.
If your school would like to visit Otford, please notify our Parish Clerk in advance and we will do what we can to make your visit a success. Clerk@otfordpc.co.uk Tel. 01959 524 808
Work Sheet Projects
We have prepared a range of worksheets related to the Heritage Trail available to teachers.
Reception class
Join up the Dots
Four prepared sheets featuring local scenes
Colouring Sheets
Four outline drawings of local scenes. (Please bring own pencils/crayons)
Find the Mouse
Local shops identified by window sticks will supply children with their quiz sheet. On completion, if presented to the shop, children will receive an adhesive mouse badge.
Key Stage One
Where Am I?
Sheets show close-up photos of local features, all visible during the trail. Identify.
Who Belongs here?
Associate the illustration of a house with the type of work done there Otford Word Search. Two Word-Search puzzles which are Otford related.
Heritage Centre Quiz
Find identified objects on your visit to the Heritage Centre.
Key Stage Two
The Trail Quiz
Questions based on the information available on the trail information panels.
Can you remember?
A recall quiz testing memory. Answers selected from four options
Otford Word Search. Two Word-Search puzzles which are Otford related.
School & Family Visits
Making your class visit a success
Having a base
So that a group has a dry base from which to operate, we usually have several options available. These can only be booked if the school has made prior arrangement through the Parish Clerk. A nominal fee is requested to cover preparation and cleaning. Toilets will be available.
Alighting & departing
Manoeuvring large vehicles is difficult in Otford’s narrow roads. We recommend that coaches or large people-carriers alight and pick-up from the Pond area. By alighting at the bus-stop here, children are in a safe environment beside The Green (and close to the start of the Trail). The coach then has the facility to approach or depart in a number of directions.
Coach parking
There is no available space for coach parking within the village. However we have identified a number of optional sites just outside the village which may be available for parking. Please notify us in advance of your coach length.
Your risk assessment
Whilst every school is responsible for their own risk assessment, we have prepared a schools visit risk assessment format which teachers may find helpful. We have also prepared a separate map of the village for teachers, indicating our recommended route for viewing the trail as well as locations of significant places.
Rainy day option
The Otford Heritage Trail team have prepared two playlets for classes of up to 30 children. These have been written by Janet Davies a well-known local children’s book author. Both are on a historic theme related to the village.
With the invaluable help of the Otford WI, period clothes (Velcro fixed) have been prepared for all those taking part.
Laminated Prompt Sheets will be available to ensure the play runs smoothly.
It includes a song to a well-known music theme.
Emergency
There is a minor-injuries unit available within 10 minutes at Sevenoaks Hospital in the event of an accident requiring treatment. The address is: Hospital Road, Sevenoaks TN13 3PG · 01732 470200
Where to have lunch
We have suggested two safe sites, indicated on your map, both on the village recreation ground.
One contains three picnic tables close to the children’s play area. The other is a grass site beside our exercise area and the scale model of the Planets. (If the latter is chosen you may require a ‘guide to the Universe’ available at the Heritage Centre in order to provide explanation to your class.)
