History tells stories about people, places and things to help explain to young people of any age why the world is as it is as they grow up and begin to question it.
Schools will choose different periods and settings and topics to cove during different Key Stages, but all of them are pretty well guaranteed to be rooted in actual places that can be visited, explored and enjoyed.
It has been a curious fact that for many years primary classes have studied the Roman, Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods, while secondary school syllabuses have been more engaged in post-medieval periods. For a while secondary courses involved a great deal of ‘topic work’. While this discipline still exists, the recent examination syllabuses have returned to an emphasis on historical periods and links.
But all periods and topics provide fantastic opportunities for school visits. We are so lucky that so many general and specialist museums and visitor centres exist in the UK. The problem is not a shortage of possibilities but how one sifts through the available opportunities to make choices.
The Historical Association website carries information about course, conferences, study tours, and the Association has published ‘The Historian’ magazine for many years. Handsam is also happy to help, please contact us on 03332 070737 or email info@schooltripsadvisor.org.uk.
Most venues will have teaching materials and activities geared to students’ different ages and aptitudes whether at primary or secondary level. All of them will set out to develop students’ ability to understand, analyse and evaluate key features and characteristics of historical periods and events studied.
Some venues will be easy to identify because they fit neatly with the period and topic being studied but others may offer new possibilities, not least to the teachers themselves. Teachers need and deserve their own stimulation.
Over the next four years there will be an upsurge in visits to the First World War battlefields. Because of this there will be an increase in companies offering visits and requirement for battlefield guides, especially in northern France and Belgium. There are bound to be discrepancies in guides’ knowledge and experience. Close research into the credentials of the company you are contracting with, and the company’s guarantees about guides, will ensure that your group will not be disappointed.
Main organisations:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Inclusion: NASEN
Thought of visiting?
Roman Vindolanda and Roman Army Museum at Hadrian’s Wall
Viriconium, Wroxeter, Shropshire
The Jorvik Viking Centre, York
Offa’s Dyke Trail and Chirk Castle
The National Trust for Scotland
Clan Donald Visitor Centre, Isle of Skye
Bosworth Battlefield Visitor Centre
Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin
Exeter Cathedral Education Centre
The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
The Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth
East Anglia Railway Museum, Colchester
The National Tramway Museum, Matlock
Stranraer's historic Old Town Hall, built in 1776, is the home of Stranraer Museum.
Step inside and discover Wigtownshire's fascinating past. See one of Scotland's oldest ploughs, look at Victorian Wigtownshire in 3-D photographs and follow in the footsteps of Stranraer's own Polar explorers.
Discover Sanquhar's world famous knitting tradition and the story of the mines and miners of Sanquhar and Kirkconnel. What was it like to be a prisoner in Sanquhar jail? How did the ordinary people of Upper Nithsdale live and work in times past? All this and more can be found in the town's fine 18th century tolbooth.
Cross the fifteenth century Devorgilla Bridge to the Old Bridge House. Built in 1660 into the sandstone of the bridge itself, Dumfries' oldest house is now a museum of everyday life in the town. You can see the family kitchen, nursery and bedroom of a Victorian home, and pay a visit to an early dentist's surgery!
A Museum trail brings the story alive.
There are four exhibition areas on the ground floor and an outside yard where you will see agricultural tools and exhibits relevant to Moffat's railway history.
The traditional Scottish cottage in which John Paul Jones was born in 1747: exhibition on the life of “The Father of the American Navy”; video in the reconstructed cabin of Jones’ ship “Bonnhomme Richard”.
A treasure house of the history of south west Scotland, Dumfries Museum is centered around the 18th century windmill which stands above the town. On the topmost floor of the museum is the Camera Obscura – this historic astronomical instrument gives fascinating panoramic views over the town and on clear days the range is many miles.
Based around the original control tower of the former RAF Dumfries, the museum is a fascinating collection of aircraft and memorabilia reaching back to the golden years of flight.
This gem of a place must not be passed by. It is not its size but the warm welcome and friendly folk that you will enjoy. Come and see for yourself what Granny used in the past and compare it with today. Enjoy the town heritage, peep into the past. You may come as strangers, you will leave as friends.
Built around 1500 by the Adairs of Kilhilt, one of the most powerful families in Wigtownshire, over the centuries the Castle has been used as a home, a local court, a military garrison and a prison.
Videos and reconstructions are used to tell the story of:
This 18th-century Georgian house is the former home of Scottish painter E A Hornel, one of the Glasgow Boys.
Broughton House & Garden prefers to tour groups around the property and garden out of hours - for example before midday. Topics include 'An Edwardian home', 'Art styles at Broughton' and 'Local literature'.
This local museum has a regular display which includes social history, trades and craft implements, dolls, toys and a large collection of Ayrshire lace embroidery and local Paisley weaving. There are also regular exhibitions held on specific topics.
Opened in 1901, the Dick Institute is one of the most important cultural venues in the south-west of Scotland, featuring the largest museum and galleries space in Ayrshire as well as East Ayrshire's central library.
The Scottish Maritime Museum boasts a range of Scotland’s rich maritime collection.
The collection not only includes historic vessels, shipbuilding machinery, machinery tools, small vessels, canoes and lifeboats, but also personal items of socio-historic interest.
The Baird Institute lies in the centre of the town of Cumnock and was opened in March 1891 to provide leisure facilities for local people and included a museum, billiard room and reading rooms.
Robert Burns Birthplace Museum offers a truly unique encounter with Scotland's favourite poet.
The Royal Burgh of Ayr held the Rozelle lands as part of the Barony lands of Alloway until an auction in 1754 to reduce the Burgh debt brought sale of the lands to Robert Hamilton for £2,000. The Hamilton family made their fortune in the sugar and tobacco industries in the West Indies. The first mansion house was finished by 1760 and was in the classical style of Robert Adam.
North Ayrshire Heritage Centre shows the history of North Ayrshire with displays of archaeology, costume, transport, and popular culture. A photographic archive of the local area is available for reference.
The museum has displays on the history of the town and the surrounding area, local family history, overseas links especially with Australia, the ship HMS Largs, and so on. Each year a special themed display is prepared for the museum’s opening in June, July and August.
Built in 1776, the former parish church in Saltcoats, houses our principal museum collection.
Set within the magnificent grounds of Rozelle Park, the Maclaurin Gallery offers a rare chance to enjoy a wide range of works from local, national and internationally acclaimed artists.
The Doon Valley Museum is located in a conversion of one of the oldest buildings in Dalmellington (dating from 1744). It was saved from demolition in the 1980s and now serves the community as a museum, art gallery and meeting place. Our permanent museum displays explore some of the rich heritage of the Doon Valley – with a focus on mining and how it affects the communities of the area.
Dean Castle, home and stronghold of the Boyd family for over 400 years, is open all year round to visitors and is one of Ayrshire’s greatest free attractions.
17th century flour mill and ancillary buildings on riverside site. Exhibitions telling the story of country life from 1800 to the present day. Collection of costume, furnishings and memorabilia.
Refurbished in 2004, the Burns House Museum is a fresh combination of interactive and traditional exhibits; the Museum represents a truly authentic Burns experience.
The Bushcraft Company offer residential school trips with a difference, taking students into the wild and giving them real back-to-nature experiences they will never forget.
A 15-year-old boy fell 60ft over the edge of a cliff whilst on a geography school trip, miraculously only suffering minor injuries.