Access and Resources

Access

Shortenills is easy to access from the A413, A40 and M25. The nearest towns are Amersham and Chesham. Shortenills location map.

We are situated between Chalfont St Giles and Little Chalfont on the edge of old and new working forests with ancient green lanes and paths leading through rich study areas. The historic village of Chalfont St Giles and the Chiltern Open Air Museum are within easy walking distance and a farm, next door, provides excellent educational visits. This location makes a ‘residential’ at Shortenills rewarding at all times of the year.

The Centre is set within 10 acres of woodland, meadow and ponds. Activities explore many areas of the National Curriculum for Key Stages 1 – 3 including science, geography, literacy, numeracy, religious education, art and some outdoor & adventurous pursuits. We make a feature of engaging visitors with sustainability education and practices during their visit. If this is residential then there is also plenty of opportunity for PSHE and citizenship.

Resources

Alongside those of the grounds and surrounding area, the resources in the classrooms and the teaching materials complement the experience in the outdoors. We have ‘Smartboards’, data projectors, data logging and other scientific equipment. The result is a wealth of stimulating opportunities to enrich your curriculum by educating in, about and for the environment. Before your visit we will have a planning session with you to create a programme to suit your needs.

An environmental monitoring system logs and displays as bar charts, productivity of the PV array, solar-thermal panels and the heat generation from the bio-fuel boiler. The use of water, electricity and occurrence of dining room waste are also measured and each resident group is challenged to minimise waste in each area. The results can be compared to others and displayed at the end of the visit.
 
There is a CD ROM presentation to borrow for use with staff parents and governors.