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
Lytes Cary Manor is an intimate medieval manor house with a beautiful Arts and Crafts garden where you can imagine living.
Originally the family home of Henry Lyte, where he translated the unique Niewe Herbal book on herbal remedies, Lytes Cary was then lovingly restored in the 20th century by Sir Walter Jenner.
The Iford valley has been occupied since Roman times and the manor house sits idyllically by the Frome river in the steep-sided valley. Iford Manor is mediaeval in origin, the classical facade being added in the eighteenth century when the hanging woodlands above the garden were planted.
West Wycombe Park is one of the most theatrical and Italianate of all English country houses and the Dashwood family home for over 300 years. Set in 45 acres of landscaped park, the house as we see it today is the creation of the 2nd Baronet in the 18th century.
Medieval gatehouse to the 13th-century College of Priests - where the 14th-century theological reformer, John Wyclif, lived.
The Wellington Monument stands as a tribute to the Duke of Wellington and his victory at the Battle of Waterloo.
Take a stroll around the 2,000 acres of Watersmeet and Countisbury, a haven for wildlife and breathtaking views.
On Exmoor, Watersmeet is the meeting place of the East Lyn river and Hoar Oak Water.
Explore the rich woodlands of the Lyn Valley and stroll along the riverside at Lynmouth, Combe Park and Rockford.
At the heart of historic Washington village this picturesque stone manor house and its gardens provide a tranquil oasis, reflecting gentry life following the turbulence of the English Civil War.
The building incorporates parts of the original medieval home of George Washington's direct ancestors, and it is from here that the family took their surname of 'Washington'.
Gifted to you by Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, Socialist MP and ‘illogical Englishman’, our 13,000-acre estate has something for everyone.
Waddesdon Manor has so much to offer young people: beautiful, safe grounds and space to explore, living history, opportunities for learning and fun both outdoors and in. Highlights include the Woodland Playground, Explorer Trails around the gardens, the Children's shop, and the Aviary.
Hughenden offers a vivid insight into the charismatic personality and colourful private life of the most unlikely Victorian Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, who lived here from 1848 to 1881. You can browse among an extraordinary collection of personal memorabilia, and there's even a Victorian playroom for younger visitors.
Spectacular Victorian Gothic Revival house with gardens and parkland. A fine Victorian country house created by one of England's richest commoners, William Gibbs, who built his fortune on fertiliser.
Explore centuries of Welsh living in this traditional stone-built upland farmhouse.
Set in the heart of the beautiful Conwy Valley, Ty Mawr was the birthplace of Bishop William Morgan, the first translator of the Bible into Welsh.
Walks lead from the house through woodland and traditionally managed landscape.
Step into the world of a successful merchant and his family in 1500, when this fine three-storey house had just been built.
Discover the merchant's shop and working kitchen on the ground floor. The first-floor hall is newly transformed for this year with colourful wall hangings and replica Tudor furniture.
Education
An intimate Elizabethan manor and a Cornish gem, Trerice remains little changed by the advances in building fashions over the centuries, thanks to long periods under absentee owners.
Today the renowned stillness and tranquillity of Trerice is much prized by visitors.
Only a few metres from York Minster, this was the first house ever given to the National Trust complete with a collection - and it is not all that it first seems.
It has a history spanning 2,000 years, from the Roman road in the cellar to the Edwardian servants' quarters in the attics, and thirteen period rooms in between.
Medieval house with Great Hall, completed 1293 - with kitchen added in the 15th century. Solar Block contains an unusual wall-painting.
Walk the dramatic red sandstone escarpment of Alderley Edge, with views over the Cheshire Plain to the Peak District. Explore woodland paths or walk to neighbouring Hare Hill Garden.
Discover the highest point on the Edge which was originally a Bronze Age burial mound. It was later used as a fire beacon site which would have been lit as a signal to warn of the imminent invasion.
This rare 14th-century Wealden hall-house was the first building to be acquired by the National Trust, in 1896.
The thatched, timber-framed house is in an idyllic setting, with views across the River Cuckmere, and surrounded by a delightful, tranquil cottage garden full of wildlife.
Be at the heart of the action and explore your industrial past along the scenic walk taking in the ten award-winning Ironbridge Gorge Museums spread along the valley beside the wild River Severn.
See the products that set industry on its path and the machines that made them. Watch and talk to the Museums’ craftsmen and costumed demonstrators.
This charming 17th-century farmhouse, elegantly remodelled in Georgian times, offers fun and relaxation for all the family. Set in 100 acres of countryside, there are apple orchards and charming woodland walks. The atmosphere of a working farmyard has been rekindled with the return of small animals.
The eclectic collection at Arlington Court tells the story of a family who lived on the estate for more than 600-years. Discover for yourself the museum-like hoard amassed by Miss Rosalie Chichester, during her 84-years living at Arlington.
Built for the first Lord Berwick in 1785, Attingham Hall and its beautiful parkland were owned by one family for more than 160 years. As their fortunes rose and fell they proved themselves to be spenders, savers and saviours - providing a fascinating story of love and neglect whose mark still stands in Attingham’s rooms today.
Ashridge Estate is a vast 2,00 hectare swathe of beautiful woodlands and chalk downland at the north end of the Chiltern Hills.
Features include:
The barn, with its immense stone-tiled roof, is picturesquely situated close to the banks of the River Severn. It was built in the 15th Century by the canons of St Augustine's, Bristol.
Only the barn is owned by the National Trust. The beautiful medieval house adjoining it is privately owned, as are the adjacent pig-pens. Please note that the church may not be open every day.
This extraordinary building with the appearance of a dolls' house nestles in a beautiful valley on the Berkshire Downs, surrounded by woodland.
It was built by an Earl, William Craven, as a house fit for the queen he loved, Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia in 1662.
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.