Available Business & Tourism Sessions
Click on an education session for more detail including curriculum links
Please be aware, that although sessions are FREE, Colchester Zoo reserves the right to charge a £20 fee educational sessions which are booked but not attended.
Detailed Session Descriptions:
Finance Talk – KS4 and higher
After an introduction to Colchester Zoological Society’s finance objectives, costs and revenue are examined. A full analysis using graphs, charts, and figures shows the difference in profits on low visitor days compared to high visitor days. The difficulties of a tourist attraction trying to balance those varying visitor numbers while remaining profitable are then explored with reference to strategies used to encourage visitors. The session also examins the shift of the zoo from a Private Limited Company to a Charity, and what impact this had on financial operations.
Click for curriculum topics covered
- Understand the mission and value of CZS
- Understand the financial objectives of CZS
- Explore charitable income streams, including donations, grants and Gift Aid
- Fixed and variable cost breakdown
- Direct and indirect cost breakdown
- Understand what steps we take to minimise our costs
- Explain the sources of income and how attendance is directly linked to revenue
- Understand the factors affecting attendance and what we do to compensate
- Break-even chart analysis and comparison of high and low visitor days
- Calculations of net profit margins comparing high and low visitor days
- Understand a variety of pricing strategies used, and what the aim of each is
- (KS5+ only) PESTLE analysis of CZS to anticipate future sales
- (KS5+ only) CZS’s Economic Impact, both locally and regionally
Marketing Talk – KS3 and higher
Students will learn what marketing is, and how we successfully market products at Colchester Zoological Society. The talk covers a wide range of topics including: who our target customers are, who our competitors are, various levels of products, SWOT analysis, marketing strategies, product lifecycles, and advertising. For lower level talks, all of these concepts are tied back into the marketing mix terms of price, place, product, and promotion.
Click for curriculum topics covered
- Understand the role and mission of CZS
- Explain why marketing is essential to CZS’s mission
- Describe the target audience of CZS
- Understand why knowing the target audience is essential to marketing
- Relate CZS’s marketing methods to the marketing mix in terms of product, place, price and promotion
- Understand the SWOT analysis of CZS
- Define marketing strategies with reference to price and product life cycles
- Describe advertising methods used by CZS
Q & A Session – KS3 and higher
Please note this session is 45 minutes for a maximum of 50 students.
This session is a bookable timeslot for your students to ask Colchester Zoo staff questions. Zoo staff can answer questions on a wide range of topics including how we use science at Colchester Zoo, how we meet the needs of our customers, health and safety concerns of a zoo, case study examples of our conservation projects, or a focus on any other topic.
This session is ideal for students which are required to gather specific information for completing mock assessment, portfolios, workbooks, etc.
Students attending this session MUST come prepared with a list of question to ask the speaker.
Sustainability: People, Planet & Profit – KS3 and higher
New Autumn 2026 – More details coming soon!
What does sustainability mean for a business, and how can businesses make more sustainable decisions?
Using Colchester Zoological Society as a real-world case study, students explore the environmental, social and economic factors that influence business decisions. They will consider resource use, waste, supply chains, customers, stakeholders, reputation and the potential trade-offs between sustainability, costs and long-term financial performance.
Zoo Business Operations – KS3 and higher
Updated Autumn 2026 – More details coming soon!
How do you run a zoo as a visitor attraction when your organisation is also a charity?
Using Colchester Zoological Society as a real-world case study, students explore the business of running a modern zoo, including finances, customers, staffing, products, marketing, competition, stakeholders and business objectives. They will also consider how CZS’s charitable mission influences these decisions, and how the organisation balances its mission with the need to generate income and remain financially sustainable.
For younger students, the session introduces key business concepts and terminology; older students explore more complex issues including financial models, market research and strategic decision-making.
Click for curriculum topics covered
- Understand the role, mission and purpose of Colchester Zoological Society
- Understand how CZS operates as a charity and visitor attraction
- Identify the main sources of income and areas of expenditure involved in running a zoo
- Job roles and responsibilities across CZS’s departments
- Identify different stakeholders and understand their objectives and interests
- Understand our customers, including visitor types, catchment area, visitor numbers and seasonal patterns
- Understand the role of research, including market reserach, visitor flow, dwell time and animal visibility surveys
- Explore charitable income streams, including donations, grants and Gift Aid
- Understand how organisational objectives can differ between commercial and charitable organisations
- Explore how CZS’s charitable mission influences business decisions
- Evaluate internal and external factors affecting CZS using SWOT analysis
- Use PESTLE analysis to explore external factors affecting the organisation (KS5 only)
- Explore how a visitor attraction balances its charitable mission with the need to remain financially sustainable
