Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust is delighted to announce that the learning provision at The Historic Dockyard Chatham has received the esteemed Sandford Award for high achievement in heritage education.
This award reflects the excellence of the sessions delivered by the team, which includes work with schools, colleges and universities as well as families, community and special interest groups. The Sandford Award has been running since 1978 and is the only nationally recognised quality mark for heritage learning, providing independent assurance for heritage sites and services.
In the sessions observed by the assessor, the quality of teaching was deemed extremely high, the content and quality of the sessions were praised, and the use of the historic environment to enhance the learning provision was considered excellent.
The lead judge said: “The Historic Dockyard Chatham Learning Team deliver an exciting and inspiring programme. They provide hands-on experiences for students that cannot be delivered in the classroom and workshops are led by highly skilled and knowledgeable facilitators. All of the sessions have clear curriculum links and learning objectives, and schools will experience engaging activities that enhance their students’ learning. The service has continued to maintain extremely high standards since the Award was last granted in 2018. It offers an outstanding learning programme and a truly memorable experience for those who visit.”
Stephen Billington, Head of Lifelong Learning, said: “Education is central to delivering Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust’s charitable purpose and engaging audiences in learning about the significance and role of the former Royal Dockyard is at the heart of everything we do. Receiving the Sandford Award is a huge honour and we could not be happier. Our team are passionate about sharing over 400 years of dockyard history and creating an inclusive environment for young people to learn. We offer a varied programme of activity throughout the year and this prestigious award gives testament to the quality of the experience. We hope to see many more young people through our doors in the coming years.”
For more information about visiting The Historic Dockyard Chatham see: thedockyard.co.uk
