Chichester Harbour Conservancy is the organisation responsible for managing the harbour and the land around it, which is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). As well as being a busy recreational site, particularly for sailing, the AONB is also important both nationally and internationally for its wildlife, ecology and landscape.

The aim of the Chichester Harbour Conservancy Education Service is to foster understanding and a sense of guardianship of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Activities and events in and around Chichester Harbour Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty happen throughout the year and are open to anyone. The programme is available on the CHC website and is published in the Chichester Harbour Conservancy Activities Leaflet.

There is a formal education service for the local community of schools and colleges and other institutions, run by the Harbour Conservancy at cost. All areas of the curriculum are covered, for any age. The service is administered by a team of qualified teachers, assisted by volunteers from Friends of Chichester Harbour.

Field trips take place anywhere in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and are individually tailored, by the teaching team, to the requirements of the visiting school, college or other institution. Visits to educational establishments are also part of the service; teachers offer a range of input from talks with slides to curriculum related music, drama and environmental puppet workshops.

Chichester Harbour is a wonderfully diverse area with a wide variety of easily accessed habitats (such as sand dunes, reed beds, and coppiced woodland). Steeped in history, with a wealth of recent research data, it is also a prime example of many current issues such as sea-level rise and the conflict between the needs of people and wildlife. Our solar powered boat provides many children with their first experience afloat, as well as being a good start to the debate on renewable energy.

To find out more, try ‘walking’ some of our virtual field trips after zooming in from space on our website!

Chichester Harbour Conservancy

Harbour Office

Itchenor

Chichester

West Sussex