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
A lovely little museum dedicated to the history of Oswestry and the surrounding countryside, from B.C. to present day. Run by friendly volunteers, quiz for the kids and free to visit!
Discover the history of Oswestry through a timeline exhibition that maps everything from the formation of rocks to present day.
Open all year, Monday - Sunday. Dolwyddelan, built by Llywelyn Fawr, along with nearby Dolbadarn and Prysor, formed a collection of strategically important mountain fortresses for the Welsh ruler.
The High Court of Tynwald is the parliament of the Isle of Man. Tynwald is of Norse origin and over 1,000 years old, and is thus the oldest parliament in the world with an unbroken existence.
Set on a large natural mound, Launceston Castle dominates the surrounding landscape. Begun soon after the Norman Conquest, its focus is an unusual keep consisting of a 13th-century round tower built by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, inside an earlier circular shell-keep.
The extensive and picturesque ruins of Minster Lovell Hall are located in a beautiful rural setting beside the River Windrush. Approached from the north, through the adjacent churchyard, the 15th century site comprises a fine hall, tower and complete dovecote nearby - making this a particularly interesting day out for anyone considering a visit.
No day out in the Yorkshire Dales would be complete without a visit to Middleham Castle. Once the childhood home of Richard III, you can relive the Castle’s illustrious history and unlock the deeds of its great owners.
Although roofless, extensive remains of the fortified palace still survive, making Middleham a fascinating castle to explore.
A chance to experience what war was like over the last three hundred years for soldiers and their families. A fun way to show history to your students.
Tredegar House is one of the architectural wonders of Wales and one of the most significant late 17th-century houses in the whole of the British Isles.
Situated within 90 acres of beautiful gardens and parkland, this delightful red brick house provides an ideal setting for a fantastic day out.
Great battles, ancient myths, spellbinding tales, pampered princesses, heroic knights. You can find them all here at Warwick Castle.
Blacklow Hill, near Leek Wootton in Warwickshire, lies on the Millennium Way, a pathway constructed in 2000 across the midlands.
Journey through the historic estate of Shugborough and experience the nation's best 'upstairs downstairs' experience.
The mill is a ‘living’ place where the graffitied, lime-washed walls and the ancient hessian sacks mingle with the smell of the timbers and tallow. A lucky survivor, it tells the story of the decline of traditional village work and life.
Tamworth Castle is a Norman Motte and Bailey Castle located in the centre of Tamworth surrounded by the Castle Pleasure grounds. The oldest parts of the Castle are believed to date from the 1180s. There are 15 period rooms to explore with many hands-on activities for all ages.
Schools and Groups
Overlooking Portland Harbour in Dorset stands one of Henry VIII’s finest coastal forts, built in the early 1540s to protect against French and Spanish invasion.
Today it provides a great day out for visitors and its audio tour, included in the admission price, tells of the castle’s 450 year history and the part it played in the First and Second World Wars.
For 350 years, Coombe Conduit formed part of a system which collected water from nearby springs and channelled it to Hampton Court Palace. One of three such conduits that supplied the palace, the remaining structure represents an intriguing survival of the ingenuous Tudor waterworks system.
A must-see for any visitor to the picturesque market town of Helmsley in the North Yorks Moors National Park.
Discover how the castle evolved over the centuries, from a mighty medieval fortress to a luxurious Tudor mansion, to a Civil War stronghold and a romantic Victorian ruin.
The perfect stop on any trip - if you’re out walking or cycling.
Well preserved Tudor Home with gardens and some dressed rooms. We also provide a Tudor treasure chest handling collection. And a Servant's Life education activity led by costumed character.
The newly refurbished Harborough Museum is home to the Hallaton Treasure, discovered in 2000 and one of the most important Iron Age finds in Britain.
The museum celebrates Market Harborough’s long history as a centre of trade and industry in the heart of the Welland Valley at the crossroads between Leicestershire and Northamptonshire.
Housed in the magnificent Boathouse 6, Action Stations offers a wide range of interactive displays and completes the Dockyard story by bringing visitors within reach of today's modern high-tech Royal Navy.
Twinlakes Park offers the very best in family entertainment jam-packed with a breath-taking variety of family Rides, Attractions, Animals and even a Waterpark!
Set in 70 acres of glorious countryside, where you'll find unlimited action and play zones, a massive 125,000sqft indoors plus rides and attractions galore. All weather action all year round!
The fine twin-towered gatehouse of this castle, built by Edward I in 1292, once defended a crossbow bolt factory which used local Forest of Dean iron. Once a prison, it is now a youth hostel in wonderful walking country.
St Briavel’s was an important royal castle on the frontier with Wales and the administrative and judicial centre of the Forest of Dean.
Longtown has a superb, scenic rural setting right at the foot of the Black Mountains, and the Centre is set in sixteen acres of traditional farmland which slope down to the river Monnow.
The police museum was set up in the 1980s to explain and illustrate Northern Ireland's unique and often contentious policing history. Our collection includes police uniforms, equipment, medals and archives from the early 1800s to the present day and also weapons used against the police over the years.
Garvagh Museum is unique in Northern Ireland in that it is a rural Folk Museum in the Bann Valley. It had its origins when artefacts collected from the town and district were housed in a small building adjoining Garvagh Secondary School. When the collection out grew the space, a new building was erected by enterprise Ulster, with the generous support of local businesses and others.
Welcome to Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork (Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross), Cork's Anglican Cathedral situated in the centre of Cork City, Ireland. Designed by William Burges and consecrated in 1870, the Cathedral lies on a site where Christian worship has been offered since the seventh century.
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.