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2026 Opening dates and times:

Spring Season

Saturday 14th March – Thursday 23rd July (Closed Fridays except for Derbyshire school holidays).

10am -5.30pm (last admissions 4pm)

10am – 4.30pm (last admissions 3pm)

Friday 24th July – Monday 31st August (Open daily)

10am -5.30pm (last admissions 4pm)

10am – 4.30pm (last admissions 3pm)

Tuesday 1st September – Sunday 1st November (Closed Fridays except for 30th October)

10am -5.30pm (last admissions 4pm)

10am – 4.30pm (last admissions 3pm)

Contact the Education Team

To contact the Learning Department for more details or to book activities use.

Winners of the Sanford Award for Heritage

Education 2021-2026

Storytime

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The Crich Wizard's spell books

Storytime Session Information

  • Suitable For EYFS / Yr1
  • Session Length 45-60 minutes
  • Cost £2.00 per child

Explore our Woodland area and its’ sculptures and listen to the wonderful stories connected to nature through our storyteller. Each session will include three stories, such as ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. At the end of the session, and if staff wish to do so, children can have the opportunity to design and make their own fairy houses which will be left on site.

Objectives:

  • Listen to and respond to a range of stories
  • Become familiar with well known stories and fairy tales.

Previous comments from these sessions:

Woodland storytelling…was amazing. (The Storyteller) was really enthusiastic and the children were in awe of him listening to the stories. He really captured their imagination.

Ripley St. Johns Church of England Primary

(The Storytellers) were both so engaging and the children really enjoyed listening to the stories.

Shirland Primary School

National Curriculum Links

EYFS Early Learning Goals

Listening, attention and understanding

  • Listen attentively and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions;
  • Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding

Speaking

  • Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences, including use of past, present and future tenses

Literacy: Comprehension

  • Demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary

The Natural World

  • Explore the natural world around them, making observations of animals and plants

Expressive arts and design: Creating with Materials

  • Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with design, texture, form and function
  • Share their creations, explaining the process they have used

Being Imaginative and Expressive

  • Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories
Year 1 Links

English: Spoken Language

  • listen and respond appropriately to adults
  • ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge

Reading – comprehension

  • listening to and discussing a wide range of poems, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently
  • becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales

Design and Technology

Design

  • generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through talking

Make

  • select from and use a wide range of materials and components

Evaluate

  • evaluate their ideas

Technical Knowledge

  • build structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable

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