Teachers - look for the Sandford Award logo when planning your educational visits.
Heritage education offers pupils and students the opportunity to understand the world in ways that classroom learning alone cannot. By engaging with real places, artefacts, and landscapes, young people experience history as something lived and meaningful not just something studied. The Sandford Award is our flagship programme-administered by the Heritage Education Trust in partnership with Lincoln Bishop University and a quality mark for heritage sites in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man.
It’s an assurance of the highest standard of heritage learning provision
The Sandford Award gives teachers the confidence that the sites they visit deliver high-quality, hands-on learning experiences aligned with strong educational practice. Through a demanding, independent assessment process, the Sandford Award recognises heritage sites that provide engaging, well-structured, inspiring and inclusive programmes for learners of all ages.
As a result, you can use the Sandford Award to support your application within school to help convince colleagues and senior leaders that the site you have chosen for a visit has an educational provision which has been assessed to be effective and meets the award criteria. This assessment includes an onsite visit, and the award lasts for five years.
What teachers can expect at each Award site:
Learning programmes delivered in ways that engage, inform and inspire visitors.
Learning that helps pupils and students understand their local, national heritage or natural environment.
Sessions developed through consultation and evaluation with teachers and learners.
Attention to good management and administration during all aspects of the visit.
Quality learning resources and services which enhance the visit.
A safe, welcoming and accessible environment.
Find out more about the Sandford Award and the six criteria that applicants have to meet to be successful in achieving this endorsement.
Banner image: Englefield Estate Schools Days, Sandford Award holder