Thanks to a generous grant to the Botanic Garden from The Gatsby Charitable Foundation, we are offering a new travel grant scheme for state schools to support visiting the Botanic Garden. We will also waive our usual fee for taught workshops for those schools with an at or higher-than-average pupil premium percentage. The grant will operate in the 2023/2024, 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 school years.
Funding availability updates
- Funding has been fully allocated for this school year. We are working through booking forms and enquiries already received and will confirm with you soon if you have been successful in obtaining the grant. We deal with these in strict date order.
- Visit dates are still available in Spring and Summer but funding is not.
Please scroll down for our terms and conditions.
Who qualifies for the travel grant?
- State schools from Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire and South Lincolnshire.
- Classes travelling to the Garden for a taught workshop with one of our Schools Learning Officers.
- Year groups from EYFS to Year 13.
- Travelling to the Garden by coach or public transport.
- Bookings must be made at least four weeks in advance.
Please contact us if you are travelling in a different way, e.g. if you are a special school requiring different transport to meet your pupils’ needs.
Please note that we do not have sufficient funds to offer this travel grant to schools wishing to visit the Garden on a self-led basis, i.e. without a taught workshop with one of our Schools Learning Officers.
All travel grants are subject to the Terms and Conditions below.
Who qualifies for the free taught visit offer?
Your school will qualify for a FREE taught visit with one of our Schools Learning Officers if:
- The travel grant criteria listed above are met
- The school has an at-or-above average percentage of pupils receiving pupil premium (currently 28.7% according to Government figures)
- The year group is EYFS to Year 11
We can accommodate a maximum of 72 pupils in one day for taught visits. Check out the workshops on offer.
How much is the grant for?
The grant will cover the full amount for reasonable travel expenses for the class for a return journey between the Garden and your school. At the time of booking you will be asked to give a quote for your travel costs.
How does it work?
The grant is paid after the trip has taken place – it cannot be paid in advance of a visit.
There will be forms for the school to complete on confirmation of booking so we can set you up on our finance system, which will allow us to pay you the grant.
After the trip, the school will also need to submit an invoice to us on headed paper, including receipts showing the costs paid for travel. This can be done electronically. We will then pay you the appropriate amount. This takes up to 6 weeks from submission of the invoice. You will also be expected to return a feedback form.
If your school is getting the travel grant, but needs to pay for the taught visit (because you don’t qualify for the free taught visit offer), the school will still need to pay the fee for the taught visit in the usual way, and then claim back the travel under the travel grant scheme. This fee cannot just be taken off the grant amount you receive. The money for the travel grant comes from a specific charitable foundation grant and we need to deal with these separately.
How do we apply?
Just fill out the booking form for your visit as usual and tick the box to say you would like to apply for the grant, letting us know your estimated travel costs. Ideally these will come from a quote you have sought from your travel provider. Enter your pupil premium percentage so we can see if you qualify for the free taught visit. Our confirmation email to you will let you know if you have been successful in principle. We aim to respond to your booking form within five working days, though at some times of year this could take longer. If your preferred date is unavailable, we will work with you to find an alternative.
Bookings for the summer term open at October half term (Cambridgeshire dates). If you wish to visit in the summer term we strongly recommend that you apply for your visit as close as possible to bookings opening. A portion of the year’s grant is set aside for visits in this term, so the grant will not be exhausted before this date.
Terms and Conditions
- The aim of this scheme is to allow as wide a range of schools to benefit as possible from across the 8 counties to which it applies. In the interests of fairness, Cambridge University Botanic Garden reserves the right to distribute the grant as it sees fit, to allow for such a broad scope of application. Amongst other considerations, we reserve the right to balance out or ration visits under the scheme so as many schools as possible can benefit.
- The grant and free taught visits are awarded until the Gatsby Charitable Foundation grant is used up for that year.
- If you are bringing more than one class in a day, taught visits must be for a single workshop, e.g. “What makes a plant” x 2. We are unable to run one workshop in the morning and a different one in the afternoon.
- Availability for double bookings (two classes taught on one day) is limited. Double bookings are for a maximum of 72 pupils in total.
- Grant payments will be made after the trip, after an invoice or receipts for travel have been submitted, along with a feedback form. We cannot pay a grant without an invoice or receipts for the costs.
- Only state schools following the UK national curriculum qualify.
- To qualify for a free taught visit in addition to the travel part of the grant, schools must have a pupil premium percentage of at or above the average pupil premium percentage (currently 28.7%).
- We cannot guarantee your preferred date will be available as we have limited daily capacity for school visits (both taught and self-led). If your preferred date is not available, we will see what other date we may be able to offer but if there is no availability, we cannot provide either the travel grant or the free taught offer.
- The travel grant is not available for self-led (ie non-taught) visits UNLESS we advise you that we are fully booked or cannot accommodate a taught visit. Under these circumstances, if funds allow, we may be able to cover travel costs for a self-led visit and we will discuss this with you.
- Funds cannot be used for fuel for school minibuses except in exceptional circumstances, which must be agreed up-front in advance of your visit.
Updated July 2024.
Our school is in the [most deprived] level of the school social deprivation scales. This grant has allowed all our parents to send their children on an excellent educational trip without any anxiety about cost.