Developing skills and employability for young people of all ages
At Chiltern Rangers we’re committed to helping young people reach their full potential through the development of a wide range of life skills.
By gaining practical conservation experience, and expanding their knowledge of nature, young people are enabled to have a meaningful and positive impact on the local environment.
At the same time, we actively cultivate transferable life skills such as listening, speaking, teamwork and resilience. This all builds towards work-readiness in a wide range of contexts, laying the foundations for the next generation in our local economy. We are now part of the Skills Builder Partnership, working within an established framework to help our young people build these essential life skills in a more systematic way.
Our work aims to be inclusive of all levels of ability, in the belief that everyone has something to offer and the potential to grow.
All this happens in the context of the beautiful Chilterns landscape, where young people have space to be themselves and discover hidden talents.
Work Experience
We are immensely proud of the work experience opportunities we provide for young people. Take a look at our dedicated Work Experience page to find out more about what we can offer.
Within schools, the new Ofsted Framework and Gatsby Benchmarks have placed a greater emphasis on the need to provide meaningful experiences of workplaces for all students, where they can gain skills that prepare them for work and independent life.
This has resulted in a huge increase in the demand for quality work experience placements, which we are keen to meet as an organisation embedded in, and committed to, our local community.
In the 2025/26 academic year we had well over 120 individual enquiries for work experience, from which we were able to offer a massive 70 work placements. Students came from a wide variety of schools as shown on the map below (click on image for detail):
Duke of Edinburgh Awards
Chiltern Rangers events are a great opportunity to build hours for the ‘Volunteering’ section of the Bronze, Silver and Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
More details on what is involved and how to apply can be found on our Duke of Edinburgh page.
In the 2025/26 academic year we had 73 young people apply to us for volunteering as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Under 18 Volunteering
Volunteering with Chiltern Rangers is a great way to get out in nature, learn new skills, meet new people, and above all to have fun!
We’re very happy to welcome young people to our volunteering sessions, from a one-off ‘taster’ to regular volunteering. Young people don’t need to be part of an organised programme or school group to join in, but if you are in Y9 or below you will need to be accompanied by a supervising adult. If you are in Y10-13, you can attend alone but must be signed in and out by an adult.
If you would like to join us, please complete our Under-18 Volunteer Form, which will give us all your necessary information, and enable us to send you details of events you might want to sign up for.
Working with Schools
We partner with schools in 2 main ways:
In-School Conservation Programmes: developing the school site for nature and outdoor learning.
This might include building a forest school area, planting projects with native trees, hedgerows and wildflowers, or creating a wildlife pond.
All with the involvement of students and staff!
Conservation Sessions for Schools: Students join us out on site for a taste of what it means to be Conservation Ranger.
Winter sessions might include a chalk grassland scrub-bash, woodland management such as coppicing, or tree and hedgerow planting.
Summer sessions might include woodland and grassland maintenance, or habitat investigation in chalk streams or wildflower meadows.
Read more on our dedicated Schools page.
Stepping Stones
Our Stepping Stones to Employability Programme offers young people in either SEND provision or mainstream school a graduated path towards employment. Read more on our Stepping Stones to Employability page.
Uniformed Organisations
We enjoy working with a number of different uniformed organisations (Brownies, Guides, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Cadets, etc) to introduce them to conservation activities.
Groups have joined us on site for tasks such as woodland maintenance or scrub-bashing.
We have also joined group sessions to lead activities such as bird box or pollinator-pot making.
