Education Terms & Conditions

ELIGIBILITY FOR EDUCATION PRICES

As part of our commitment to conservation education, ZSL offers subsidised tickets for our zoos, known as education rate tickets, for students in full time education in educational establishments that are registered with the Department for Education, such as schools, colleges and universities, and for home educators. Organisations may be required to provide their DfE Number to verify eligibility for these subsidised tickets. Education rate prices for eligible organisations can be found here.
To qualify for education rates, a group must:
•    Be visiting on a weekday in England’s school term-time. They are not available at weekends, bank holidays or school holidays.
•    Be part of a school/college/university with a registered DfE number or children who are educated full time at home.
•    Be a nursery affiliated with a school and able to supply your DfE number.
•    Students must be in full time education.
•    Be visiting the zoo for an educational trip to enhance learning. 
•    Those who do not meet the above criteria such as private nurseries, uniformed groups, youth groups, child minders, and Schools/colleges organising a trip outside of school hours (at weekends, in school holidays or family days out) do not qualify for education rates but may be eligible for another group discount. Please see www.zsl.org/groups for more information.
•    Bookings must be made at least two weeks in advance to be eligible for the discounted rates.
•    It is your responsibility to check prior to purchase that the information you have supplied to us in respect of your requirements is accurate. We are only responsible for issuing tickets in accordance with the information you provide.

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS OF EDUCATION RATE TICKETS 
•    On arrival at the Zoo the following may be required in order to validate any ticket purchased through for an educational or vocational programme:
•    Appropriate proof of entitlement to any discounted ticket rate claimed for each person to be admitted under the ticket (for example staff ID of the lead teachers or proof of home education status)
•    A legible print-out of your e-ticket/confirmation of booking
•    ZSL reserves the right to charge the normal Zoo entry rates to any person not able to validate their ticket in the above manner. 
•    Tickets are valid only for the date stated upon them.
•    Tickets are non-transferable to other persons or other ZSL Zoos, and may not be resold without the prior written consent of ZSL. If any person attempts to enter an Attraction with a ticket that has been resold without ZSL’s written consent, ZSL may refuse entry and no compensation is payable to that person by ZSL.
•    Education groups must arrive and enter the zoo together on the day of the visit and pay as one group. Individual payments cannot be accepted.

COSTS
•    School rates of entry vary depending on the time of year you wish to attend. For up to date entry costs, please visit the following web page: https://www.zsl.org/zsl-whipsnade-zoo/schools/entry-costs-for-school-visits
•    If any person in your group has valid ZSL membership, they can use this to access the zoo as part of an educational visit. Memberships must be declared more than two weeks before the visit date (when payment is due), and membership cards must be brought with the person in question and presented upon arrival to gain admission. Refunds shall not be provided once a visit is paid for if the membership is not added to the booking. Any persons who arrive without a valid membership or education rate ticket purchased in advance must purchase a standard admission ticket.
•    Education rate tickets cannot be purchased on arrival.
•    Education workshops are charged at the following rates in addition to zoo entry:
        o    Free during the autumn term and first half of the spring term, please see our website for exact dates: https://www.zsl.org/zsl-whipsnade-zoo/schools/entry-costs-for-school-visits 
        o    £45.00 per workshop with a 35-student max capacity and duration 1 hour max, for the rest of the academic year, unless otherwise stated.
•    If a group do not arrive at the designated meeting point at the agreed time, the ZSL staff member leading the activity reserves the right to cancel the activity. No refund will be offered for groups who do not turn up on time for pre-booked activities.
•    If you cancel or do not turn up for any activities that were free of charge, ZSL reserves the right to charge a £25 administration fee.

PAYMENT
•    We must receive payment at least 2 weeks in advance of your visit. 
•    Payment can be made by BACS, debit, or credit card, please  follow the instructions on your invoice
•    You must include your Order Number as reference with the payment in order for us to match the payment to your trip. Failure to do so may result in us being unable to identify your trip as paid-for
•    If payment is not received in advance, ZSL reserves the right to charge an additional £25 administration fee.
•    We do not accept cash or cheque payments, nor can payment be made on the day
•    Education prices cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer, promotion, discounts or third party payment methods.
•    Education tickets are non-refundable (unless in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, please see details under the cancelation section). However, if you have paid for your visit and a cancellation is requested in writing 14 days or more prior to your visit then we will endeavour to re-schedule your booking if there is availability to do so in the same academic year. 
•    ZSL reserves the right to cancel or refuse entry to any group who have not paid in advance of their trip nor made prior arrangement with ZSL to pay after the visit/activity.
•    ZSL reserve the right to refuse future bookings from an organisation that has outstanding costs, or who have failed to pay for previous trips in full.

ALTERATIONS OR CANCELLATION TO BOOKINGS
•    Education tickets are non-refundable.
•    We do not offer refunds for any students or paying adults who are unable to attend on the day of a trip.
•    We do not offer refunds for any visitors with memberships which were not declared either two weeks before the visitor or before payment is made, whichever is first. 
•    You can change the date of your visit or cancel your visit with no charge provided that you do this at least two weeks in advance. If you are booking education sessions as part of your visit, rearranging these are subject to availability.
•    Once a booking has been paid for, we are unable to make any alterations to the booking, even if you pay more than two weeks in advance. This includes changes to the visit date, activities, or visitor numbers.
•    If a group do not show for their visit, have not paid for their trip and/or have not notified us in writing that they wish to cancel their visit, ZSL reserves the right to charge a £25 administration fee per trip and per additional paid-for activity.
•    If a group do not arrive at the designated meeting point at the agreed time, the ZSL staff member leading the activity reserves the right to cancel the activity. No refund will be offered for groups who do not turn up on time for pre-booked activities. 
•    If you cancel or do not turn up for any activities that were free of charge, ZSL reserves the right to charge a £25 administration fee.

CANCELLATIONS OR ALTERATIONS DUE TO ADVERSE WEATHER POLICY
•    In this instance, “adverse weather” is defined as predicted weather that results in a Yellow Weather Warning or above by the MET Office: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/
•    Notwithstanding the terms set out in the “Alterations” section above, if Adverse Weather is predicted, you are able to alter the date of your planned visit up to one day before, free of charge, subject to availability. You must provide an alternative date for the trip no later than 28 days after the date you contact us to reschedule. If you reschedule to a later point when ticket prices are higher, you will be expected to pay the difference in cost. No refund shall be provided if fewer students are attending on the rescheduled trip than previously booked.   
•    STRIKE ANNOUNCEMENTS: If industrial action is announced that will affect your ability to visit Whipsnade Zoo on the day you have booked (for example teacher or transport strikes), ZSL will work with you to find alternative visit dates in the same academic term or following academic term. You must provide an alternative date for the trip no later than 28 days after the date you contact us to reschedule. If you reschedule to a later point when ticket prices are higher, you will be expected to pay the difference in cost. No refund shall be provided if fewer students are attending on the rescheduled trip than previously booked. 
•    Please note that changes to any booked educational activities are subject to availability and cannot be guaranteed if a group change the date of their visit due to adverse weather.

CANCELLATIONS OR ALTERATIONS DUE TO ZOO CLOSURE
•    As set out in the general conditions of entry, we may need to close one or both Zoos or adjust opening and closing times. If the Zoo is required to close for any reason on a date that you have booked, you will be notified as soon as possible by ZSL. ZSL will work with you to find alternative visit dates within the same or following academic term.  ZSL will offer a full refund if rebooking is not possible.  
•    Examples would be if we are required to do so by law, for safety (e.g. very high winds), and for required maintenance and upkeep, such as our planned annual weekday closures which help us to keep the Zoos in the condition you would expect. London Zoo will be closed from Monday 20th – Friday 24th January 2025 and again the following week from Monday 27th – Friday 31st January 2025. Entry 
•    ZSL STAFF AVAILABILITY: If ZSL staff are unavailable to deliver pre-booked activities, for example due to sickness, you will be notified as soon as possible by ZSL. ZSL will work with you to find alternative activities or visit dates in the first instance or will offer a full refund of any impacted activities if re-booking is not possible. 
•    In the unlikely event that ZSL are required to alter or cancel a booked educational trip or activity for any other reason than those stated above, you will be notified as soon as possible and ZSL will work with you to find alternative visit dates/activities in the first instance or will offer a full refund of any affected services or activities if rebooking is not possible.
•    ZSL is not responsible for any third-party costs incurred as a result of any cancellation and is unable to provide a refund for any pre-paid goods, such as pre-purchased souvenirs or food.

SUPERVISION REQUIREMENTS
•    You are responsible for the behaviour of your groups at all times during your visit. If anyone in the group is found to be behaving in a way that is disruptive to other visitors or our animals, aggressive or compromises the health and well-being of our animals the whole group may be asked to leave the zoo and school management may be contacted. In these cases, the free/reduced rates for adults may be retracted and all adults will be charged full admission prices.
•    All students aged 16 or under must be accompanied by a supervising adult at all times whilst in the zoo. Students aged 17-18 do not need to be with an adult at all times, but school staff must be in the zoo and contactable whilst the students are in the zoo.  
•    ZSL reserves the right to refuse or cancel any booking if they do not feel that adequate support is in place from the school/other educational organisation for the trip. On the day of your visit if ZSL feel adequate supervision is not in place. ZSL has the discretion to retract any free/reduced rates for supervising adults and your school will be invoiced for any adults at full admission prices, including an additional £25 administration fee. 
•    As a minimum, all education visits must include no less than one supervising adult for every 10 primary students and one supervising adult for every 15 secondary students age 16 or under, and at least one supervising staff member for educational groups where all students are aged 17 or over. We will not accept bookings for groups who intend to bring fewer adults than this.

ADULT ENTRY COSTS
Free Adult Entry for Supervision
•    We provide a limited number of free adult tickets to ensure adequate supervision of your students.
•    If you are a primary school you will receive one free adult ticket for every five paying pupils.
•    If you are a secondary school, college or higher education facility you will receive one free adult ticket for every ten paying students. 
•    All adults must have a valid ticket to be granted access to the zoo as part of the educational booking, whether free or paid-for.  

Free Carer Entry
•    To support students with additional needs, educational groups are able to bring 1-to-1 staff who are supporting students with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities, or as part of a Pupil Referral Unit/Alternative Provision free of charge. Any additional adult tickets required must be paid for and stated at the time of booking.

Membership cards or complimentary tickets
•    Membership cards or complimentary tickets can be used to gain free entry to the zoo. Students with a ZSL membership do not count towards the free adult ratio for supervision purposes.

Additional Adult Costs
•    Any accompanying adults above the free ratio will be charged the additional adult rate
•    No more than 33% of any education booking can be supervising adult places (free places or paid tickets) unless you are from a SEND specific school, SEND unit within a school, alternative provision or home educator. If you feel your booking requires more than 33% supervising adult places please contact the learning team to discuss your booking at least 2 weeks before your visit.  

 RISK ASSESSMENT
•    It is the teacher’s responsibility to prepare a suitable risk assessment in advance of any trip. It is important to undertake a risk assessment for young children and their accompanying adults.
•    It is the responsibility of the educational organisation booking the trip to ensure that they have everything they need to plan for their trip accordingly, including any risk assessments they are required to complete ahead of the trip.
•    Guidance on completing a risk assessment can be found at Education pre-visit checklist | Whipsnade Zoo

FREE PLANNING VISIT FOR TEACHERS
•    For every class booked in to visit the Zoo, we allow one teacher a free planning visit. Teachers must have a confirmed school trip booking to come for a free planning visit. To come for a free planning visit, simply bring your confirmation of booking and school ID to the main admissions desk on any day before your planned zoo trip.

LATE RUNNING SCHOOLS
•    If you are running late and expect to miss the start of your booked education session, you must call Supporter Contact Team on 0344 225 1826 as soon as possible with details of your expected arrival time at the zoo. We will try to reschedule your education session if needed, but this will depend on the schedule that day. ZSL are unable to offer a refund for any workshops that are missed or cancelled due to lateness of the group.

LUNCHROOM FACILITIES
•    There is currently no bookable lunchroom at Whipsnade Zoo. Please discuss your requirements with the Community & Learning Team who can advise of sheltered spaced to eat together.
•    Please note that our lunchrooms are used by many groups throughout the day and you may be sharing the space with other schools. We cannot control exposure that an individual with allergies will have.
 
GETTING TO THE ZOO
•    Parking in the external car park at Whipsnade Zoo is free of charge for minibuses and coaches of schools visiting the zoo.
•    Minibuses are permitted into Whipsnade Zoo with a charge (maximum 16 seats).

GREAT WHIPSNADE RAILWAY 
•    Groups can book a train ride via [email protected] or on the day at the Main Gate or Station store. Places and times are subject to availability. 
•    Students must be supervised while on the train with the following ratios:
•    1 adult for every 5 primary school students
•    1 adult for every 10 secondary school students

ACCESS TO THE ATTRACTION
•    ZSL reserves the right, in its absolute discretion, to refuse entry into or remove from one of our Zoos, any person. This includes but is not limited to a person who has behaved in a manner which, in the opinion of ZSL;
        o    has, or is likely to, adversely affect the animals at the Zoo or the safety or enjoyment of other visitors; 
        o    has used threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or in any way provokes or behaves in a manner which may provoke a breach of the peace or may disturb animals; 
        o    is or appears to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
•    To prevent offensive weapons or dangerous articles from being taken into one of our Zoos, visitors are admitted subject to a condition that, if requested to do so, they will allow themselves and/or their belongings to be searched by ZSL staff.
It is prohibited to take into one of our Zoos:
•    skateboards, rollerblades, roller skates, bikes, scooters and other forms of personal transport; 
•    balls, frisbees, balloons or any other similar item; 
•    pets or animals of any nature; 
•    any weapons, fireworks, smoke bombs, glass bottles, blades, flammable liquids or other articles that may cause injury.

ZSL’S PRIVACY POLICY
ZSL is committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with their obligations under data protection legislation. The current data protection law is found in the General Data Protection Regulation as supplemented by the Data Protection Act 2018 and related laws.
The ZSL privacy policy explains what information ZSL collects about you and how it will be used. You can read our full privacy policy here.

BOOKING
•    ‘ZSL in the Classroom’ sessions can be stand-alone (not linked to a zoo visit) or linked to a zoo visit as part of a booking.
•    ‘ZSL in the Classroom’ digital outreach sessions are available Mon-Fri during UK school term time and are subject to availability
•    Bookings must be made at least two weeks in advance.
•    Bookings can only be made when there is availability, with limited slots on each available day.  Once these time slots are full, there is no extra capacity on that date.
•    Each session is designed for a maximum of 35 children per session. This is to enable student engagement during the session. Should you wish to run a session for a larger group or if you have any additional needs or requirements, please contact  [email protected] and we can discuss your needs further.
•    A test call must be booked at the time of booking your session (within the date and time slots available). This test call must be at least one week before your digital outreach session. The test call enables us to check connectivity, the platform that will be used for the session, and gives us an opportunity to talk through the session with the class teacher. If you have not set up a test call please immediately contact  whipsnade [email protected] to arrange this.
•    A contact email address must be given at the time of booking to enable us to send you the meeting invite for the test call

PAYMENT
•    Prices are for both ZSL London Zoo & ZSL Whipsnade Zoo unless otherwise stated. 
•    Payment for a digital outreach session visit must be made at least two weeks in advance of the session and can be made by debit or credit card, or BACs via our Supporter Contact Team on 0344 225 1826. If payment has not been made by the time of the digital outreach session then ZSL reserves the right to cancel your session. If we proceed with the session you will be invoiced, and an additional administration fee of £25 may be charged.
•    If you amend or cancel your booking, ZSL reserves the right to charge an administration fee of £25.

SET-UP
•    To ensure that the digital outreach session is able to go ahead, it is your responsibility in advance of the session to ensure the following:
•    that the platform used for the session is installed and functioning on the class computer that you will use during the session
•    The school is responsible for managing how students access the session and a member of school staff must be present for the entire session. If all students accessing are together in one class, this means that the teacher is responsible for joining the session, facilitates the session and remains in the room with the students. If the students are accessing the session remotely, the teacher must facilitate and control the meeting – setting up the session, managing behaviour of students remotely and overseeing admission to ensure that only intended students are present.
•    ZSL recommends Microsoft Teams as the preferred mode for delivering online activities which enables secure links without uninvited external parties being able to attend. If the school use a different platform for online engagement, this is to be set up by the school, and it would be assumed by ZSL that the school have designated this platform to be secure to meet their safeguarding policy
•    ZSL do not allow recording of sessions unless explicit prior consent is obtained. ZSL will not record any sessions unless explicit prior consent is obtained, and all relevant parties have signed consent forms. In the exceptional circumstance that ZSL do film a session all media and associated files will be stored as per GDPR regulations             

DELAYS AND CANCELLATIONS
By Us
•    In the unfortunate event that we are not able to deliver the session due to unforeseen circumstances at ZSL, we will contact you to re-book the session in a convenient and available slot.
•    If the second session results in the same issue, a refund for the session cost (only) will be offered.
By you
•    If your group is not online at the time and date of your booking then the session may be shorter, resulting in some content not being able to be delivered.
•    If you are not online 15 minutes after the designated start time of your session then we will not run the session.

CONNECTIVITY ISSUES
•    If the connectivity fails before we have delivered at least half of the session and we are unable to reconnect the call, then we will contact you to reschedule delivery of the remainder of the session.
•    If more than half of the session has been delivered, the option to re-book to deliver the remainder of the session lies at the discretion of ZSL.

REFUNDS
No refunds will be given for schools who:
•    are not able to participate in the session because they are not online at the time of the booked slot
•    did not book a test call, or failed to participate in the booked test call
 

It is your responsibility to check prior to purchase that the information you have supplied to us in respect of your e-ticket requirements is accurate. We are only responsible for issuing e-tickets in accordance with the information you provide.
On arrival at the Zoo the following will be required in order to validate an e-ticket purchased through this website:
•    Appropriate proof of entitlement to any discounted ticket rate claimed (such as NUS card, pension booklet, passport) for each person to be admitted under the ticket 
•    A legible print-out of your e-ticket to be scanned, failure to bring a print out with you may delay the admission process. 
•    ZSL reserves the right to charge the normal Zoo entry rates to any person not able to validate their e-ticket in the above manner. 
•    Any additional persons wishing to enter with an e-ticket holder will be required to pay the normal Zoo entry rates.

TICKET PURCHASE AND VALIDITY
•    Once purchased neither the date nor Zoo for which an e-ticket has been purchased may be changed. 
•    Payments for e-tickets are non-refundable. 
•    E-tickets are only valid for the date stated upon them.
•    Parking charges are not included within the price of an e-ticket.

RESALE
No e-ticket may be resold without the prior written consent of ZSL. If any person attempts to enter one of our Zoos with an e-ticket that has been resold without ZSL’s written consent, ZSL may refuse entry and no compensation is payable to that person by ZSL.

ACCESS TO THE ATTRACTION
ZSL reserves the right, in its absolute discretion, to refuse entry into or remove from one of our Zoos, any person. This includes but is not limited to a person who has behaved in a manner which, in the opinion of ZSL;
•    has, or is likely to, adversely affect the animals at the Zoo or the safety or enjoyment of other visitors; 
•    has used threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or in any way provokes or behaves in a manner which may provoke a breach of the peace or may disturb animals; 
•    is or appears to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
To prevent offensive weapons or dangerous articles from being taken into one of our Zoos, visitors are admitted subject to a condition that, if requested to do so, they will allow themselves and/or their belongings to be searched by ZSL staff.

ATTRACTION RULES
•    Children under 16 will not be admitted without an adult unless a consent form has been signed specifying this
•    We do not allow re-entry to the zoo 

It is prohibited to take into one of our Zoos:
•    skateboards, rollerblades, roller skates, bikes, scooters and other forms of personal transport; 
•    balls, frisbees, balloons or any other similar item; 
•    pets or animals of any nature; 
•    any weapons, fireworks, smoke bombs, glass bottles, blades, flammable liquids or other articles that may cause injury.

There are no facilities for the storage of luggage at the Zoo. Buggies and pushchairs are left unattended at their owner’s risk and any containers left unattended may be removed for security reasons. ZSL accepts no responsibility for damage to or loss of personal property brought into Zoos.