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
Travel back in time and discover the history of the Potteries and of Staffordshire.
See the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found on display, plus the world's finest collection of Staffordshire ceramics, Reginald Mitchell's WW2 Spitfire, Ozzy the famous pottery owl and all sorts of art and craft.
Exmouth Museum was first opened in 1985 and is housed in a 19th century building which was the Council Stables together with the adjoining foreman's cottage.
The world’s first iron bridge was erected over the River Severn here in 1779. Britain’s best-known industrial monument, the bridge gave its name to the spectacular wooded gorge which, though now tranquil, was once an industrial powerhouse and the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. Ironbridge Gorge is now a World Heritage Site.
The architect Sir John Soane’s house, museum and library at No. 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields has been a public museum since the early 19th century. Soane demolished and rebuilt three houses in succession on the north side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, beginning with No. 12 between 1792 and 1794, moving on to No. 13, re-built in two phases in 1808-9 and 1812, and concluding with No.
THIS HISTORIC MILL, HOME TO THE JORDAN FAMILY FOR OVER 150 YEARS, WAS REVOLUTIONARY FOR ITS TIME AND COULD BE COMPARED WITH THE DAWN OF THE INTERNET AGE TODAY…
Maryport Maritime Museum is ideally situated at the quayside in the beautiful and historic town of Maryport.
The museum occupies the building formally known as The Queen's Head public house which entertained and boarded a great many sailors between their voyages on the high seas.
Stunning woodcarving and elaborate panelling made this wealthy merchant's house a medieval des res built to impress.
Built around 1500 for Thomas Paycocke, the house is a grand example of the wealth generated in East Anglia by the cloth trade in the 16th century.
All aboard! See how engines work; what buses are made of; go aboard some; see old tickets and uniforms once used. View the workshop and on special days ride on a vintage bus. Morris Museum: see a 1970s police car; 1920s Bullnose Morris and a Mini in the original style.
Drayton Manor is a fun-filled theme park near Tamworth with rides like Apocalypse, Maelstrom and Pandemonium, animals and of course Thomas Land, home of Thomas the Tank Engine. There's even a 4D cinema and a Dino Trail.
School Visits
Theme park and CBeebies Land with great kids attractions; white-knuckle roller coaster rides including the Smiler, Air and Oblivion; special events and much, much more.
You can stay at our Alton Towers Resort hotel too.
Education
Denny Abbey has a unique and fascinating history.
Founded in 1159 as a Benedictine monastery, it then became a retirement home for elderly Knights Templars. After the Templars’ suppression for alleged heresy in 1308, it became a convent of Franciscan nuns before becoming a farm from 1539 and the dissolution of the monasteries, until the 1960s.
Discover to the Key to England on a fantastic educational trip visit Dover Castle!
New: Operation Dynamo: Rescue from Dunkirk.
Explore the Secret Wartime Tunnels deep beneath the castle to see, hear and feel - as never before!
The last working water-powered forge in the country nestles in the middle of Sticklepath village on the edge of Dartmoor, near Okehampton. During lively demonstrations see and hear the large water wheel and tilt hammers in action. Demonstrations of the machinery every hour.
This museum, housed in Burrells original paint shop, tells the story of the Charles Burrell Works – a Thetford business that once employed 350 people and supplied beautiful and reliable steam-powered engines throughout the world.
These unique gold mines are set amid wooded hillsides overlooking the beautiful Cothi Valley.
2,000 years ago, the powerful Romans left behind a glimpse of gold-mining methods. The harsh mining environment continued in the 19th and 20th centuries, ending in 1938.
Guided tours take you back to experience the conditions of the Roman, Victorian and 1930s underground workings.
Created at the site of Staffordshire's Apedale Mine, offering an underground mine experience, with informative museum, café and gift shop.
We are located in North Staffordshire’s Apedale Community Country Park in an area that was once an industrial powerhouse.
Quainton Windmill is a great place for kids to learn about the history of windmills and this one in particular.
It was originally restored in the 1970s but is currently undergoing further restoration at the moment, (which means the sails have been removed)but it is still an interesting place to visit.
St Pancras railway station is a central London railway terminus and Grade I listed building. It is one of the biggest landmarks in London and serves as a gateway to Europe. It is used by 45 million passengers annually and is home to the Eurostar.
Combe Martin has a rich history combining unique social customs with silver mining, lime burning, strawberry growing as well as the maritime aspects.
A fantastic Seaside Laboratory is open for all to use with the facility to explore the beach and go rock-pooling. Beach safaris led by museum volunteers are held regularly when weather and tides permit
Extensive collections of buses, and battery electric vehicles. Cafe/Shop/Picnic area. Kids Kabin activities. On event days (bank holidays etc) there are classic bus rides and a miniature steam railway.
The spectacular entrance is the largest to any cave in Britain. See rope making, the remains of an underground village and find out why it is called "The Devil's Arse"! Guided tours suitable for all ages.
Unusual rock formations, the eerie sound of running water and echoes of a bygone age await you.
A beautiful medieval site with public access for walks and picnics. We run family-focused events through the year, whether it's history, wildlife and environment or archaeology, there's something for everyone to learn and have fun too!
London Waterloo station is a central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex in the London Borough of Lambeth. The current building was opened in 1922, but there has been a railway station on this site since 1848.
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.