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

Tucked away in a deep wooded valley, Berry Pomeroy Castle is the perfect romantic ruin with a colourful history of intrigue.  

Our exhibition of works from the collection of Doncaster Museum Service brings together a wide range of images of Doncaster and its surrounding area.

Intriguing stories

Set in the lovely village of Lavenham, the Guildhall of Corpus Christi tells the story of one of the best-preserved and wealthiest towns in Tudor England.

Visit us for Free to immerse yourself and your family in arts, history and culture. With a selection of permanent galleries and temporary exhibition spaces, along with a whole host of ongoing workshops and events, the Herbert offers a great day out. Our fantastic family offer was recognised when we won the Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award in 2010.

Spectacular 18th-century mansion with Adam interiors and parkland

Take a trip back in time to the 1760s at this spectacular Neo-classical mansion framed by historic parkland.

Designed for lavish entertaining and displaying an extensive collection of paintings, sculpture and original furnishings, Kedleston is a stunning example of the work of architect Robert Adam.

The impressive ruins of Henry II's 12th century keep, on the site of a Roman fort guarding the approach to strategic Stainmore Pass over the Pennines.

An Elizabethan Masterpiece

The family home of Bess of Hardwick, one of the richest and most remarkable women of Elizabethan England, stands beside Hardwick New Hall which she had built later in the 1590s.

Though the Old Hall is now roofless, visitors can still ascend four floors to view surviving decorative plasterwork, as well as the kitchen and service rooms with our audio tour.

The ruins of a medieval palace (together with later additions) used by the Bishops and senior clergy of Winchester as they travelled through their diocese. Winchester was the richest diocese in England, and its properties were grandiose and extravagantly appointed.

A jewel of a museum in a lovely Georgian town

Set in a handsome, grade II listed townhouse on Swaffham’s Georgian Market Place, Swaffham Museum has elegant rooms housing rich collections and 21st century displays with lots for all the family to enjoy. 

Find out how Swaffham man Howard Carter discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamen and see remarkable archaeological finds from the local Swaffham area too. 

Formerly the Grange Museum of Community History, Brent Museum has a collection consisting of objects relating to the local Brent area and the communities who live there.

15th-century moated manor house

No-one ever forgets their first sight of Oxburgh - a romantic, moated manor house.

Built by the Bedingfeld family in the 15th century, they have lived here ever since. Inside, the family's Catholic history is revealed, complete with a secret priest's hole which you can crawl inside.

Walk in the footsteps of previous generations along these ancient hill forts

The hill forts of Lambert's Castle and Coney's Castle are less than a mile apart so you can easily explore them both in a day. Each one has a different character, but both have a rich past.

Aydon Castle stands in a secluded woodland setting. Almost completely intact, it is one of the finest and most unaltered examples of a 13th century English manor house. 

13th-century tithe barn, one of the largest and finest in the country

One of the largest and finest 13th-century tithe barns in the country, lying in the Worcestershire countryside.

If you're visiting Middle Littleton tithe barn make the most of your day by visiting nearby Croome Park, Lance 'Capability' Brown's first complete landscape garden or Hidcote Manor Garden, a celebrated 20th-century garden in the north Cotswolds.

The ruined hall and chamber of a fortified manor house of the powerful Percy family, dating mainly from the 14th and 15th centuries. Its undercroft is cut into a rocky outcrop.

The great 13th century circular shell-keep of Restormel still encloses the principal rooms of the castle in remarkably good condition. It stands on an earlier Norman mound surrounded by a deep dry ditch, atop a high spur beside the River Fowey. Twice visited by the Black Prince, it finally saw action during the Civil War in 1644. It commands fantastic views and is a favourite picnic spot.

The ruined church of an Augustinian abbey, reduced in size after fire and plague.

Creake Abbey probably had its origins in 1206 when Sir Robert and Lady Alice de Nerford established the small chapel of St Mary of the Meadows at Lingerescroft, bordering the tiny River Burn.

Substantial remains of a small 16th century gun tower protecting Old Grimsby harbour, vigorously defended during the Civil War.

The Block House formed part of a series of forts built on the islands during the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I, and followed the attempt to build a large artillery fort, known as Harry’s Walls, on St Mary’s.

Circular 14th-century dovecote

A lovely and rare 14th-century circular dovecote with metre-thick walls, hundreds of nesting holes and original rotating ladder, nestled in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside.

A tall medieval octagonal tower, allegedly a lighthouse, built here in 1328 as penance for stealing church property from a wrecked ship. Affectionately known as the Pepperpot, it stands on one of the highest parts of the Isle of Wight. It is part of the Tennyson Heritage Coast, a series of linked cliff-top monuments. A later lighthouse can be seen nearby.

The remains of a large, wellbuilt Roman courtyard villa. The most important feature is a nearly complete mosaic tile floor, patterned in reds and browns. The remains are located in a peaceful rural landscape, within a loop of the River Evenlode, which flows gently past the site to the north and west.

Grey Friar’s Chapel is the 13-15th century tower of Kings Lynn’s Franciscan friary. It is one of only three surviving Franciscan monastery towers in England and is considered to be the finest.

The remains of a medieval castle crucial to Anglo-Scottish warfare, superseded by the most complete and breathtakingly impressive bastioned town defences in England, mainly Elizabethan but updated in the 17th and 18th centuries. Surrounding the whole historic town, their entire circuit can be walked.

Nestling beneath thickly wooded hills alongside the River Tay, Dunkeld has an air of timeless tranquillity. In Cathedral Square and The Cross, the Trust has restored 20 houses, some dating from the rebuilding of the town after the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689.

Late Medieval merchant's house in Worcester city centre

Built in 1480, with early 17th and 18th century additions, this fine timber-framed house was rescued from demolition after the Second World War and has been carefully restored and refurbished.

An archway leads through to a delightful walled garden.

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