Citizenship

Citizenship

Citizenship Studies is concerned with the kind of society we live in and want to influence and develop. It covers, too, the role of the public and private organisations in the process. School courses help prepare students to become active citizens. The best of them promote students’ personal and social development, and make them more self-confident and responsible, in the classroom and beyond.

All external examination courses emphasise developing awareness of the role of citizens in a variety of contexts.

Just about any educational visit will contribute to the students’ exploration of new experiences and new ideas about being a ‘citizen’, but venues and activities that bring students into contact with other communities, other social contexts and other attitudes will be particularly exciting. Many museums and venues specialise in giving hands-on experiences of what some aspects of life in earlier centuries was actually like. These tend to be attractive to primary school groups.

Secondary groups often visit civic centres and attend local council meetings. Both primary and secondary groups will be welcome at churches, chapels, synagogues, mosques and temple, some of which offer programmes of talks and exhibitions. In cities this is relatively easy to arrange but even in rural communities priests and lay church people are prepared to help schools.

The Citizenship Foundation would be an excellent starting point. It claims to help 80% of secondary schools to nurture citizenship, and sets out to inspire young people to contribute to society. The Association for Citizenship Teaching also provides advice and teaching resources, while the National Centre for Citizenship and the Law delivers law and justice education at national heritage sites.

Main organisations:

Citizenship Foundation 

Association for Citizenship Teaching

National Centre for Citizenship and the Law (NCCL)

PSHE Association

Democratic Life

Hansard Society

Inclusion: NASEN

Thought of visiting?

The Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green

National Trust Museum of Childhood, Sudbury, Derbyshire

Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh

The London Museum

The National Archives, Kew

Houses of Parliament

Welsh Assembly

Scottish Parliament

Northern Ireland Assembly

Venues for this Curriculum

Multi level play equipment up to 6.5m including enormous slides, plus sports areas, toddler zones and more. New feature: activity assault course Bouncy Castle!

Bouncy castles, and an amazing soft adventure play area with classics including ball pools, plus 'The Drop' slide: 31 ft long. And one of the biggest indoor astra slides in the country!

Indoor play area with loads of slides and fun features plus dedicated toddler zone, attached to a family restaurant. Outdoor play too in summer.

This splendid 17th century baroque building housed a courtroom for assizes, raised on arches over a market space. It now houses the Abingdon Museum. On sunny days take in the lovely rooftop views overlooking the market square.

Boscobel House and its Royal Oak tree became famous as hiding places of King Charles II after defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Visitors can also see the dairy, farmyard, smithy and gardens.

The imposing ruins of Peveril Castle stand high above the pretty village of Castleton in the heart of Derbyshire’s Peak District.  Mentioned in the Domesday survey, Peveril Castle is one of England’s earliest Norman fortresses. The keep was built by Henry II in 1176.

A moated enclosure, probably the site of a manor owned by the Bishops of Llandaff during the 13th and 14th centuries. The site is composed of a large level area, roughly 39 metres by 45 metres, wurrounded by a wide moat, making the total size of the site an impressive 72 metres by 76 metres.

World-famous Stone Circle

A world-famous stone circle and on-site museum at the heart of a prehistoric landscape. 

With its huge circular bank and ditch and inner circle of great standing stones, covering an area of over 28 acres, Avebury forms one of the most impressive prehistoric sites in Britain.

One of the most important prehistoric archaeological collections in Britain, housed in the Stables Gallery, and including many artefacts from the World Heritage Site (WHS) monuments. The admission fee includes access to both the Stables and Barn Galleries. The Barn Gallery (belonging to the National Trust) tells the story of the WHS, its monuments, and the people associated with it.

The museum collection on display reveals an island community changing over the years to both external and internal pressures. Alderney has a fascinating history starting with extensive Stone, Bronze and Iron Age activity, with object evidence of historically important Roman activity at Longy.

The story of Aldershot Military Town and the civil towns of Aldershot, Farnborough and Cove.

Housed in the only surviving brick-built barrack blocks left in Aldershot, the museum tells the story of daily life for both soldier and civilian since 1854.

Activities for Schools

Although the Museum touches on other aspects of the National Curriculum the main core subject covered is History. Details are set out below as to how a visit to the Museum may benefit students in the various key stages of History.

The Royal Forest of Rockingham, a medieval hunting forest, is a beautiful patchwork of ancient woodlands and open agricultural land with historic features and attractive stone-built forest villages. Today the Forest offers visitors plenty of routes for walking, cycling and riding.

Schools

Has long provided the opportunity to become familiar with the country life of yesteryear. Its Historic Working Farm is a wonderful visitor attraction with daily activities and special events. You will see traditional 19th century farm life unfold daily, while the land around is worked by heavy horses.

One of the finest accessible examples of a Neolithic chambered tomb, with its multiple burial chambers open to view. Stoney Littleton is a chambered long barrow built during the Neolithic period (roughly 4000– 2500 BC).

Although this is the third largest collection of prehistoric standing stones in England, the three circles and three-stone 'cove' of Stanton Drew are surprisingly little-known. Recent surveys have revealed that they were only part of a much more elaborate ritual site. 

Erected to commemorate the heroism of a Royalist commander and his Cornish pikemen at the nearby Battle of Lansdown, 1643.

Pembrokeshire's County Museum is located in a traditional Victorian country house near Haverfordwest, surrounded by 60 acres of park and woodland and is completed by an award-winning eco-centre.

Period rooms, railway displays, farming exhibition, costume, stable/rural crafts, art exhibitions, World War II homefront exhibition. Picnic and play areas, shop and tearoom.

Abbot Hall Art Gallery hosts a collection of historic, modern and contemporary art, as well as a dynamic series of temporary exhibitions, within the unique setting of a Grade 1 listed Georgian building.

Abbey Pumping Station is Leicester's Museum of Science and Technology, displaying the city's industrial, technological and scientific heritage.

Situated adjacent to the National Space Centre, the two attractions tell the story of over 200 years of science and technology from the early days of steam and industry, to space exploration of today.

The Foxton Canal Museum is located in the former boiler house for the plane's steam engine. The museum covers the history of the locks and the plane, the lives of the canal workers, and other aspects of the local canal. There is also a collection of Measham pottery.

Foxton Canal Museum is fun, children of all ages love it.

Discover a woodland wonderland full of natural wildlife. From quiet walks to action-packed family fun with laser tag and adventure play, uncover nature at its best.

Rosliston Forestry Centre lies at the heart of The National Forest, a woodland haven offering outdoor activities, family fun and a range of events throughout the year.

Welcome to Center Parcs, the award-winning number one short break provider in the UK. Our five Villages are nestled within beautiful and secluded woodland, providing an ideal location for a unique short break to remember.

Caernarfon Castle is a medieval fortress in Caernarfon, built in 1283 (it took over 1,000 more than four years to construct) by Edward I in order to stamp his authority on the rebellious Welsh. 

Castlerigg is perhaps the most atmospheric and dramatically sited of all British stone circles, with panoramic views and the mountains of Helvellyn and High Seat as a backdrop.

It is also among the earliest British circles, raised in about 3000 BC during the Neolithic period. 

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