Beaufort Court is an eco-friendly conversion of the former Ovaltine Egg Farm. It is the head office of Renewable Energy Systems and a Visitor Centre. Powered and heated from renewable sources of energy, Beaufort Court is a springboard for thinking about the power of the wind and the sun or a case study of green energy in practice.
We welcome visits from school groups and provide programmes to demonstrate the sustainable energy strategy at Beaufort Court.
When to Visit
We host school trips on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Half day visits take place either during a morning session, starting at 10am, or an afternoon session, starting at 1pm, although some flexibility is possible. The duration of a trip usually lasts between 1.5 and 2.5 hours. We can also put on a full day’s programme by arrangement.
*Please note we are fully booked until September 2008*
We encourage teachers to come and visit Beaufort Court in advance of their school trip, and discuss the programme with the Educational Visits Coordinator. This can be arranged on a Tuesday or a Thursday between 10am and 5pm or, during the summer months, until 8pm.
You may also be able to join an organised tour during the week. Please check the 'Arranging a Visit' section on our website for details.
Staffing and Numbers
All RES staff running school visits have been police checked. We can accommodate school groups of up to 30 children plus accompanying adults (1:4 for children under 11; 1: 7 for children 11-18).
Programmes
We aim to provide programmes to suit the needs of your pupils. Beaufort Court can be used as a case study or extension of pupils’ studies on:
- physical processes (electricity, forces and motion, sound and light)
- materials and their properties (metal, fibre glass, silicon, grass!)
- life processes – green plants (miscanthus crop)
- renewable energy (solar PV, solar thermal, wind, biomass, natural cooling)
- local industrial development and local historic buildings (research topics: the Ovaltine complex; the Grand Union Canal)
- environmental change and sustainable development
- and lots more!
Once here, your pupils can extend their appreciation of renewables through hands-on activities in our classroom, including:
- Electric circuits using solar and wind power
- Solar heating design (thermal insulators, conductors)
- Designing a wind farm layout
- Wind turbine design experiment
We have programmes to suit primary and secondary school ages and programmes can also be adapted to suit the needs of your school. Please check out our sample programmes here.
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PDF documents for you to download and print before your visit.
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Sample Programmes | |
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