The Award recognises the Park as a centre of Heritage Excellence and is designed to encourage institutions to attain the best possible standards when it comes to the quality of teaching on site, facilities provided, course content and ensuring teachers and students alike enjoy their experience.

Established by Lord Sandford in the late 1970s, the Award is assessed by a panel of independent judges and lasts for five years at a time. The Park will be re-evaluated in 2013.

Lynda McSweeney, Head of the Education at Fota Wildlife Park, said: “Receiving such a prestigious award is extremely important for Fota Wildlife Park. It demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that Fota is a highly-successful Heritage Education facility for our visitors, especially our many school groups that visit.

“At Fota Wildlife Park we offer children from all backgrounds the potential to learn, and it takes children out of the classroom and gives them a new and more interactive method of learning. It also demonstrates that even though there have been huge developments in technology over the years, it is the course content and the manner in which it is delivered that really strikes a chord with teachers and their students.”