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
Welcome to Hereford Cathedral. This beautiful building is the home of a community which has worshipped and worked together here continuously for well over 1200 years.
It is a place where the mission of the church to proclaim Christ's love is central, and therefore the community has always warmly welcomed visitors. We all hope that you enjoy your visit.
A rare survival of a fine domestic chapel, built for William Horne in 1366 and attached to his timber-framed manor house, which was attacked during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.
Viewing only by prior arrangement.
History
A rare survival of a large 14th-century stone house with great hall and chambers. It served as a residence and courthouse for the wealthy and powerful rectors of Warton.
The Churnet Valley Railway takes you on a journey back to the classic days of railway travel on a rural line that passes through beautiful countryside known as Staffordshire's "Little Switzerland".
Our picturesque stations offer lots of interest with a complete range of visitor facilities, and there's plenty more to see and enjoy along the way.
Two porticoed Classical towers, which stood at each end of a grandiose but highly unconventional Georgian church, designed by Robert Adam in 1776.
Mistley is a building of considerable architectural significance – one of only two churches designed by Robert Adam, whose client was Richard Rigby of Mistley Hall.
The Museum is run by Mortehoe Heritage Trust, a registered charity managed by local people. It is situated in the heart of the cliff-top village of Mortehoe, 1.5 miles north of Woolacombe on the coastal road. Entry is through the village Car Park opposite Mortehoe Post Office.
A place with an unusual story, told by graphic panels. The small Norman chapel here stood on the site of an earlier timber church, probably the Saxon cathedral of East Anglia. In the 14th century it was converted into a fortified manor house by Henry Despenser, the unpopular Bishop of Norwich who brutally suppressed the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.
Originally the Police Station and Courthouse, the Museum is opposite St. Mary's Church in the centre of Axminster. Visitors may discover the old police cells which have now been incorporated into the Arts Cafe adjacent to the Museum.
St. Coleman's Cathedral is a Church of Ireland cathedral in the Irish town of Cloyne in County Cork.
Freestanding double-height Church of Ireland cathedral, built 1784, with four-bay nave elevations, pedimented aedicular entrance projection to front with three-stage spired clock steeple above added 1812, and bowed chancel.
St. Carthage's Cathedral, Lismore is a Church of Ireland cathedral in the Irish town of Lismore, County Waterford.
Ruins of the late 12th century church of a small nunnery of 'white ladies' or Augustinian canonesses.
The first reference to the Priory of St Leonard, now known as White Ladies Priory, is a grant of land dated 1186; the architectural evidence also suggests a late 12th century foundation date.
St. Paul's is a famous, busy place. It is often described as "the Nation's Church" and is the "Mother Church" for the Diocese of London. It is the seat of the Bishop of London and a centre of prayer, worship and debate for the people of the city and its surrounding boroughs. It is also used annually as a venue for concerts, productions and celebrations of all kinds.
The Cathedral Church of St Columba in Oban is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Argyll and the Isles and mother church of the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles. The cathedral is located on the sea front at the northern end of Oban.
The stately Gothic Revival Cathedral of St Patrick and St Colman, which is situated in the centre of Newry, is proudly regarded by all sections of the community, as the city's finest building. It is the parish church for Newry and the mother church of the Dromore Diocese.
The most famous and intensively studied of Britain's 3,000 or so deserted medieval villages, Wharram Percy occupies a remote but attractive site in a beautiful Wolds valley. Above the substantial ruins of the church and a recreated fishpond, the outlines of many lost houses are traceable on a grassy plateau.
St Eunan's Cathedral (also known as Raphoe Cathedral) is a cathedral church of the United Diocese of Derry and Raphoe in the Church of Ireland. It is located in the Irish town of Raphoe in County Donegal.
Although used as a barn for the last three centuries, this fine medieval chapel was originally constructed by the lord of Chisbury Manor to assert his high social status. It allowed the household of the manor, as well as local people, to attend services and pay their taxes without having to travel to the parish church at Great Bedwyn.
St Fethlimidh's Cathedral in the Irish town of Kilmore is a cathedral church in the Diocese of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh in the Church of Ireland.
St Muredach's Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killala, located in the Irish town of Ballina. The cathedral was built in 1834, in a Victorian Gothic style. It is also the parish church of the parish of Kilmoremoy.
The Cathedral Church of St Mary and St Helen lies in the town of Brentwood in the county of Essex. Since 1998 the Cathedral has been linked with the parish of Holy Cross & All Saints, Warley with priests from the Cathedral serving both parishes.
An imposing landmark, the twin 12th-century towers of the ruined church stand amid the remains of an important Roman 'Saxon Shore' fort and a Saxon monastery.
The most dominant features of this site are the 12th-century towers of the former monastic church, which stand out on the skyline for miles around.
The Diocesan Cathedral of Meath is situated in the historic town of Trim, 25 miles north/east of Dublin. Because of its close proximity to Dublin, the town and surrounding area is seen as part of the commuter belt. The surrounding countryside is probably made up of some of the best agricultural land in the country. The present Church was built in 1803.
The home of the Venerable Bede, chronicler of the beginnings of English Christianity, Jarrow has become one of the best-understood Anglo-Saxon monastic sites. The Anglo-Saxon church - with the oldest dedication stone in the country, dated AD 685 - partly survives as the chancel of the parish church.
St. Eugene’s Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Derry Diocese, which stretches from Malin Head to Omagh and from Killygordon to Bellaghy.
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.