Many cities across the UK have some form of Transport Museum as a home for their transport history, vehicles, memorabilia, etc. so please join with us and support our campaign to bring our heritage home.
History
History
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
Venues for this Curriculum
The Royal Research Ship Discovery returned to her home port of Dundee in 1986 where she was greeted by thousands lining the shores of the River Tay. In 1993 Discovery Point opened as a purpose built museum, visitor centre and conference venue playing host to over 150,000 visitors per year from both the public and business communities.
Broughty Castle sits imposingly at the mouth of the River Tay. Built in 1496 on a rocky promontory, it has faced many sieges and battles.
Located on the ground floor of the former Brechin Town House, on the west side of the High Street in the centre of the town, Brechin Museum has displays highlighting the history of the town from the 10th century through to the present day.
Signal Tower Museum is located near Arbroath’s picturesque and busy harbour, in a complex of buildings originally used as the shore station and family accommodation for the Bell Rock Lighthouse. Built in 1813, Signal Tower served the lighthouse until 1955.
The result of 200 years of collecting, the Natural Philosophy Collection of Scientific Instruments is one of the most diverse in any British University
Resulting from over 200 years of collecting, the Natural Philosophy Collection of Scientific Instruments is one of the most diverse collections in any British University. The earliest material dates from the mid-18th century and the collection ranges from the simplest demonstration pieces to those that were state-of-the-art research equipment.
Selected mineral and fossil material is on display in the corridors of the Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology in the Meston Building, Old Aberdeen. Collection highlights are the Gordon Collection of Minerals and the Lyon Collection of Rhynie Chert Devonian plant material.
Established in the 1870s, the Anatomy Museum has a wide-ranging collection used extensively for medical teaching and training, including skeletal material, fluid-preserved specimens of human tissue, historical and modern models and works on paper. Of special interest are a set of 19th century anatomical watercolours and a series of anatomical drawings by Alberto Morrocco.
The centre offers an interesting insight into the social and natural history of Tomintoul and Glenlivet. It includes a reconstructed farmhouse kitchen and blacksmith’s workshop. The centre is open seasonally from April until the end of October.
Schools
One of Aberdeen's oldest buildings and one of the best-preserved 17th century gaols in Scotland
The Tolbooth Museum is one of Aberdeen's oldest buildings and one of the best-preserved 17th century gaols in Scotland. It features displays on local history and the development of crime and punishment through the centuries. The Tolbooth Museum provides a unique experience in the form of its atmospheric 17th and 18th century cells, original doors and barred windows.
Aberdeen Football Club Collection
Collection of football memorabilia associated with Aberdeen Football Club and it’s supporters. Please note that viewings are currently by appointment only.
The Trust aims to keep what was formerly St Peter’s Church in good repair and to house items and historical records relevant to Peterculter and the surrounding area, incorporating information on the Church, the Paper Mill (now closed), local organisations past and present, and local personalities.
A 250-year-old but ‘n ben cottage furnished as a home of about a century ago.
Session Cottage is open by arrangement only.
Provost Skene's House is temporarily closed to the Public
The House will be closed during the development of Marischal Square. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
The House
Since the restoration of this fascinating building in 2008, the museum and exhibition space is housed in what were the ground floor ice house chambers used in the salmon fishing operation. There is a small Bothy area complete with bunks where fishermen would have slept. This now houses our genealogy facility.
The Centre is housed in part of a Victorian school dating from 1837. The Corbett Museum offers changing displays relating to the history of the area – domestic and farming, peoples and their trades, education and the kirk. Visitors can view the extensive photographic archive and browse the comprehensive collection of newspaper cuttings.
The Nelson Tower was built by the Forres Trafalgar Club in commemoration of Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The Tower was opened in 1812 and is the most northerly of all Britain’s Nelson monuments. Visitors may climb to the top of the octagonal tower and enjoy spectacular views across the Moray Firth.
Kinnaird Head was the first lighthouse to be built by the Northern Lighthouse Board in 1787 and the only lighthouse to be built on top of a fortified castle. In 1824, the lighthouse was reconstructed inside Kinnaird Castle by Robert Stevenson, engineer to the Northern Lighthouse Board.
Relive the great days of steam trains at the former Maud Railway Station
Relive the great days of steam trains at the former Maud Railway Station. Sound effects add to the nostalgia of varied displays of railway memorabilia. GNSR memorabilia; photographs of Maud railway heydays; browsing corner with books and photographs.
Maud Railway Museum is housed in the former station buildings at Maud Junction in rural Aberdeenshire.
Situated in the Railway Station building, the volunteer-run museum encompasses both railway and local Insch history, including a scale model of the railway, photographs, artefacts, archive material and everyday stories of how life used to be in Insch.
The Grampian Transport Museum boasts an impressive range of transport exhibits, from travelling chariots of the 1800's, to some of the fastest cars ever made.
The only Visit Scotland 5-Star Attraction in Aberdeen, the museum tells the extraordinary 200 year story of “the Finest Regiment in the World!”
At the Gordon Highlanders Museum you can re-live the dramatic story of one of Britain’s most famous regiments through the lives of its outstanding personalities and the soldiers of the north-east of Scotland who filled its ranks. Changing exhibition programme, interactive displays, guided tours, events and activities for all ages.
Relive the early days of the industrial revolution at Garlogie Mill. See the rare beam engine - the only one of its type to have survived intact on its original location - which powered the woollen Mill.
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