Ardley Visitor Centre

Teaching children about reducing, reusing and recycling from a young age means that it is more likely to become normal behaviour into adulthood.

That is why we have invested in a state-of-the-art visitor centre at Ardley ERF, and elsewhere, to teach children and interested adults about sustainable waste management and how energy recovery fits into the waste hierarchy.

Our visitor centre manager is a qualified teacher, and has established tailored programmes to meet the needs of a variety of groups. 

• Find out about managing the Earth's precious resources.
• Learn about how to improve your waste reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery.
• Uncover new ways to increase and improve recycling and energy efficiency in your school and at home.
• Open your eyes to real life applications of classroom science.
• Meet Meg our life-sized "Megawattasaurus" made entirely from recycled materials.
• Have hands-on fun in our interactive exhibition hall.
• Test your skills and knowledge with our computer games.
• Increase your understanding of technology through our lively presentations, films and activities.
• Tour the impressive energy recovery facility control room and watch the grabs in action.
• Select from curriculum / Eco-Schools linked sessions for Year 4/5/6 (for mixed age year groups Year 3 will be considered).
• Request specifc bespoke planned sessions to fit in with your planning objectives.
• Choose a full day visit to fit around school-run coach times.
• Opt for shorter two hour sessions and maximise coach transport with one morning and one afternoon visit for different classes.
• All abilities and needs catered for by our experienced learning and visitor centre team.
• Receive our detailed guidance packs with all you need to know to guide you through the planning for your visit.
• Benefit from free resources and learning materials including post visit homework pack. 
• Support your school’s careers strategy, your tour can meet Gatsby benchmarks 4,5 and 6.

The Ardley ERF visitor centre experience is FREE to all Oxfordshire schools