Free resource guides are on offer to the Island’s teachers thanks to the Bermuda National Trust.

Twelve guides are accessible through a partnership with the Ministry of Education and Axis Capital Holdings Ltd.

The documents include information and activities that link to the International Cambridge Curriculum and the Ministry of Education’s social studies curriculum.

With funds from Axis Capital, the Trust was able to develop “comprehensive” guides and engage Fluent, a professional design company, to produce new resources.

Education Minister Wayne Scott said: “These guides will provide teachers with the resources they will need in school and on field trips to the various locations. It is an excellent guide and fits well with our curriculum.”

Mr Scott expressed his gratitude towards the three partners and to Bermuda Press Holdings and Bermuda Digital Press chief executive officer, Jonathan Howes, for donating printed resource guides that will be given to each of the Island’s public schools.

Five of the guides feature open spaces: Spittal Pond Nature Reserve, Sherwin Nature Reserve including Warwick Pond, Paget Marsh, Somerset Long Bay East Nature Reserve, and Vesey Nature Reserve. They cover the history and conservation efforts for each site with teaching related to the environment, plants, animals, habitats, food chains and ecosystems.

Four guides highlight historical properties: Waterville House and Gardens in Paget, Verdmont Historic House and Garden in Smith’s, Historic Tucker House, and the Bermuda National Trust Museum at the Globe Hotel in St George’s.

The guides cover the history of these 18th century buildings including early ship building, the conquests of privateering and Bermuda’s involvement in the American Civil War.

A common theme throughout the historical guides is a focus on Bermudian architecture, from palmetto shelters to limestone dwellings and key individuals who influenced our history.

Three additional guides feature the town of St George’s, highlighting significant structures in Bermuda’s Unesco World Heritage Site and an overview of the early history of Bermuda.

Jennifer Gray, the Trust’s executive director, said: “These resource guides are a fine example of what can be accomplished through public and private partnerships. It is so important that our children learn about their own history and environment such that they can excel in school and become effective leaders and ambassadors of our beautiful island home.”

The guides include a detailed list of activities that teachers can complete with their students before and after their field trip experiences. Each activity has a recommended grade level and can be modified for different learning abilities.

Each guide begins with a description of the Trust’s three-part learning experiences which include a pre and post-classroom lesson in conjunction with a field trip.

All guides are available as a free online download from the BNT’s website, www.bnt.bm, and the Ministry of Education website, www.moed.bm

Teachers can e-mail the Trust education team at education@bnt.bm for information about the educational experiences as well as teacher workshops that can be held at their school or in the Trust’s Axis education classroom at Waterville in Paget.