As the year draws to a close, now is the perfect opportunity to reflect on the wonderful year we've had here at ZooLab and to look forward to a very exciting 2025! What a year it's been for us! From our Biome Builders competition to our staff getaway 'Camp ZooLab', 2024 has been exciting!
Camp ZooLab
At the beginning of September, we took our team off for a weekend of fun activities and team building. We all descended on a nice spot in the countryside of Chester for three days, playing summer camp games, roasting marshmallows on the campfire, and celebrating what a brilliant team we have. This is the second year we’ve run Camp ZooLab and was led by Ranger Anna, a veteran of real summer camps in America! The team came away from the event feeling refreshed and with deeper connections to each other – especially between our office and ranger teams!
New office
We moved into a brand-new office in mid-late 2024! Based in Larbert, Scotland, our new office space has allowed us to work together as a team more closely and promoted staff morale. We’ve been loving our new space and have been diligently decorating it to give our place the ZooLab touch!
Climate Crusaders: Biome Builders
We launched our brand-new competition series, Climate Crusaders, this year! Aimed at instilling a deep-rooted sense of sustainability in the next generation, the first competition looked at the earth’s different biomes and the problems they face. Named Biome Builders, the competition asked students to create biomes out of recycled materials and write a letter explaining why the biome is important and how we can protect it. We had an amazing 108 entries for this competition and the two school winners received a half-day free ZooLab visit plus £750 towards a sustainability project. Two runners-up received a free single session plus £250 towards a sustainability project.
ZooLab Gives Back
This year we spent a lot of time thinking of ways that we can leave the world a better place than we found it. This included an effort to support causes close to our hearts, such as collaborating with our customers to donate to Cool Earth, an organisation that helps protect and strengthen the rainforest. Our customers raised an amazing £860 for the organisation. We also saw donations pour in for Alzheimer‘s-related charities during Alzheimer’s Awareness Month.
Sustainability
As always, we were passionate this year about continuing our sustainability efforts. We took part in World Clean Up Day in September, encouraging our staff and customers to clean up their local areas. Our drive towards Net Zero continued this year and the company was carbon neutral again this year. We are still fully committed to our long-term journey to ultimately becoming a Net Zero organisation.
Workshops Reimagined
This year, we decided to add some new workshops to our repertoire, beginning with the launch of our Oceans workshop at the start of the year. This workshop aims to teach students about the importance of the ocean and how we can protect it. We also launched our lesson packs! Written by a teacher for teachers, they are designed to save teachers time and meet even more curricular outcomes. Our new add-on comes at no extra cost, ensuring ZooLab experiences are of a premium value.
Continued Partnerships
We continued our valued partnerships, as well as forging some new ones, with customers such as the National History Museum, Activate Camps, RHS Wisley, Eden Project, Floors Castle, Life Science Centre, RHS Tatton Park, Syon Park, RHS Garden Harlow Carr, Bamburgh Castle, The Big Bang Fair, Ultimate Activity Camps, JAG and Camp Beaumont. We can’t wait to see where these relationships take us next year!
If you’d like to make your 2025 a little wilder, why not book a ZooLab workshop? Get in touch with us today to book yours!
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