HOME OF
VOTED UK’S BEST
CHILDREN’S
ATTRACTION 2009,
2010 & 2012
TAMWORTH, STAFFORDSHIRE
Welcome to Discover Drayton
Careers at Drayton Manor:
Ride Manager
This section focuses on the different careers available
at Drayton Manor. You can share these profiles with
your students to inspire them about the variety of
jobs available in a Theme Park and Zoo!
Drayton Manor’s theme park is spread over 280 acres
with over 100 rides and attractions. In the rides team
there are around 160 employees and this interview is
with Richard Shepherd, who has been a Ride Manager
at Drayton Manor Park for almost 14 years.
What is the best thing about working with
rollercoasters?
Dear Readers,
Riding rollercoasters is obviously a perk of the job! I
feel the best thing though is watching other people
ride them and seeing their excitement. It’s always
great watching a new attraction being built and then
getting to watch the first few guests ride it.
Welcome to the second edition of Discover Drayton! We have had an exceptionally busy year so far within the education
department, with many schools visiting us to enjoy our exciting sessions and workshops from exploring the zoo and our
fascinating animals, to investigating how our rollercoasters or business works.
What is the most challenging situation you
have faced?
My day is full of lots of different challenges which
can make the job very versatile. However, it is most
challenging when building a new attraction, especially
as the opening date gets closer and closer.
Describe a typical day at work
The average day starts at 8.00am. The first thing I do
is deploy all morning team members to perform ride
checks and park cleaning. For the next couple of hours
I allocate team members to each ride for the day,
check all park preparations have been done correctly,
and then plan any events or additional duties. I also
double check that all attractions have been fully
staffed up, inspected, cleaned and are open on time.
For the rest of the day I deal with ride breakdowns
or issues, and guest relations. Other duties include
writing new ride procedures and working closely
with other department heads across the company on
various projects.
What is it like to work at a theme park?
Working within a theme park is a very rewarding job.
Seeing happy guests and knowing that your team
is a big part of making them happy goes a long way.
Working for Drayton as a family run business also
makes me very proud of the position I hold within the
company.
In this edition you can find out information about the new zoo and park workshops that are available to book now, as well as our
teacher open days which will be coming soon! There is also a new section about our fascinating park history, as well as reader
favourites like the careers section, a session focus and a brand new competition exclusive for schools.
As always, if you want to know anything else about our education sessions, please do not hesitate to get in touch on
[email protected] or 01827 252436. Thank you for reading and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Jessica West
Education Manager
Has anything funny or surprising ever
happened to you at work?
The park is a very fun place to work and I have many
stories. The one funny thing that comes to mind is
that a small child had ‘lost his lunch’ in Drayton’s soft
play area on one of the slides, and whilst cleaning it
up the unlucky staff member ended up slipping down
the slide straight through it all. Oops!
How did you become a ride manager?
I came up through the ranks at Drayton. I first
started as a Ride Attendant when I was 16, and I turn
30 this December. I feel it was my hard work, and
understanding of both the company and industry that
gave me my opportunities. It was very clear to me
when I first started at the park that I wanted a career
within theme parks and not just a temporary job.
Written by Gemma Hilton-Tapp, Education Officer
WWW.DRAYTONMANOR.CO.UK
What’s New?
Wonderful Workshops!
Drayton Education has launched three exceptional
new workshops ready for schools from September.
These extended two hour experiences are perfect
to have on the morning of your trip, leaving the
afternoon free to explore our incredible theme park
& zoo. Design a Ride boasts the chance to build a
working rollercoaster using K’Nex that pupils have
designed themselves, Design a Zoo allows pupils to
use their creativity to design a brand new animal and
build a state of the art enclosure for it, while Animal
Care explores the job of a zoo keeper and gives pupils
the chance to design some enrichment for their
chosen animal and actually watch the animal enjoy
it afterwards! All the workshops are engaging and
active, with pupil-led discussions and independent
group work all delivered in an inspiring atmosphere at
Drayton Manor Theme Park.
Design a Diner!
This one hour imaginative and artistic session is also
new for schools in September. It is centred around
pupils designing a new catering outlet for Drayton
Session Focus:
Forces on Rollercoasters
This section will be looking in depth at an education
session that we offer. We will look at the objectives,
an overview of content, why you should pick it and
will include some testimonials from teachers and
students.
Objectives
To understand how a rollercoaster works in terms
of energy
To know how the different forces affect a
rollercoaster
To work as a team to carry out science
investigations
Content
This session takes an exciting, active look at the
different forces that affect rollercoasters. We first
explore the energy needed to get rollercoasters
zooming around the track, followed by a quick look
at g-forces, and finish up with a discussion about
the effect of gravity, friction and air resistance.
Manor with the chance for pupil designs to actually be
used within our theme park! Pupils will work in groups
to design their outlet, thinking about theme & eating
experience, the outside of the building and the menu,
including prices and design work. Groups will have
plenty of structured support to guide their design
process including examples from Drayton Manor’s own
catering outlets. The session will finish with pupils
sharing their incredible designs.
Teacher Sneak Peeks!
Deciding where to take your pupils on a school trip
is no easy task. It needs to be somewhere fun and
accessible, with a real educational value that can link
to work at school. Drayton Manor is the perfect place,
and so we are promoting a Teacher Open Day (coming
soon) which will allow teachers to visit our Education
Department free of charge and see for yourself! The
morning with consist of a presentation about our
varied education department and an overview of
planning your trip, followed by a tour of our education
facilities. The afternoon will then be free for you to
explore our theme park and zoo independently. For
more information, please keep an eye on our website
or contact our education department.
Throughout the session pupils will conduct hands-on
experiments to demonstrate these forces, including
the use of K’Nex rollercoaster loops to see how
gravity and energy interact!
Why choose Forces on Rollercoasters?
This session is perfect for bringing together and
extending the work already covered in school by
applying pupils’ knowledge to a realistic and engaging
context. We promote teamwork and critical thinking
as pupils conduct their experiments in groups,
and continually relate their learning to the reallife environment of theme park rollercoasters. The
session also allows excellent follow up in the park
when pupils ride on our rollercoasters and experience
the forces they have learned about.
*Please note that the maximum number of pupils per session is 30.
Testimonials
“The session was brilliantly delivered with good
content.” “The session was snappy and had the
children engaged at all times” “The teacher led a
super workshop and had a great manner with the
children”.
Competition:
Creativity Challenge
30 – 60 mins long, and if our education team like it
then they will transform your idea into an exciting and
engaging session!
For this issue we are launching a very special
competition for classes to design a brand new
educational session created especially for your
school. The theme has to be linked to our park,
but it can be on a variety of different topics from
rollercoasters, food and gift shops, marketing and
events, to zoos, animals and conservation, or even
tourism and hospitality. You need to come up with
a basic idea for the session, which can be between
As a reward your class will be able to see their work
being launched in 2014 and their names will appear
on Drayton Manor’s website as session designers!
About Drayton Manor Park:
Our History, Part 1
part of our native wildlife reserve. There are over
3000 trees in this ancient forest!
Before it became Drayton Manor, this area of land
was once known as the Peel Estate. In total, five
generations of Peel sons owned the Estate from
1790 through to 1926. The most famous of these
individuals was Sir Robert Peel 2nd Baronet who was
Prime Minister of the UK from 1834-1835. During his
political career he created the Metropolitan Police
Force, which is where the term ‘bobby’ comes from!
In 1843 the Peel Estate was visited by Queen Victoria
and Prince Albert who stayed in the luxurious Manor
House, home at the time to many expensive works
of art and rare books. This is also the location of the
annual Peel Society Dinners, which still continue
today in Drayton Manor’s extensive banqueting
facilities. The final Peel to own the Estate before it
was sold left a legacy of ancient trees which now form
If you would like to enter our competition, please
email the education officer with your idea and school
details at [email protected]. The closing
date for this competition is January 1st 2014.
In 1926 the Peel Estate was sold to Mr King who
demolished the magnificent Peel Manor House,
leaving only the Clock Tower standing. After becoming
an army base in 1939 for five years, the derelict land
was finally bought by George and Vera Bryan in 1949
for about £6000. After an exhausting and demanding
renovation process, which required the overgrown
landscape to be restored, the mountains of rubbish
to be removed, the lakes to be cleaned and a variety
of paths to be created through the greenery, Drayton
Manor Park first opened its doors in Easter of 1950.
After over 60 years, the Bryan family still own and
run the theme park today.
The history of Drayton Manor Park will continue in our
next issue of Discover Drayton!