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
The well-marked remains of a 2nd-century fort with large granaries, probably built under Hadrian's rule to guard the Roman road from Brougham to Ravenglass and act as a supply base.
Covering three acres, the fort was probably built during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (AD 117–38).
Brean Down is a wonderful location for a day out in Somerset. Enjoy relaxing on the beach at the foot of the Down, building sandcastles and visiting the Cove Café for a seaside treat.
Venture to the top of the Down and take the exhilarating 1.5 mile walk along Somerset’s greatest natural pier.
This 15th-century tower, sole surviving part of the manor house of the Wybergh family, was plundered by Jacobites in 1745 before the Battle of Clifton Moor, the last battle fought on English soil.
The dramatic riverside ruins and extensive earthworks of a Welsh Border castle, its tall 13th century keep unusually set on the side of its mound.
Information panels tell the story of the castle and the nearby town.
History
Carlisle Castle includes an exhibition, a programme of guided tours, a picnic area, a unique gift shop and is in close proximity to Hadrian's Wall.
Whether you want to explore this 840 acre country park with friends or family for a day enjoying the outdoors or want some peace and tranquility Bradgate Park is a must-visit. Take along a picnic, camera or your walking boots!
Bradgate Park was first enclosed as a deer park around 800 years ago.
This narrow 15th century stone bridge across Mill Beck carried an old packhorse route to nearby Furness Abbey.
Bow Bridge was built in the fifteenth century from the same plentiful supply of red sandstone and grey limestone as Furness Abbey, which dates back to the 1120s.
On the seafront in Sheringham, a new museum has opened that tells the story of the town and its proud, brave and independent people.
The remains of a Norman castle which stands on the edge of the village of Bramber, on a high natural knoll overlooking the River Adur. Founded by William de Braose c. 1075.
Discover Stratford upon Avon and its fascinating relationship with William Shakespeare. Join the award winning daily town walk! Informative, interesting and entertaining - Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun at 11am. Fri, Sat, Sun at 2pm.
The Elizabethan House is probably one of the Yarmouth quayside houses Daniel Defoe described as looking like ‘little palaces’. This handsome 16th century home invites to you to look into the lives of the families who lived there from Tudor through to Victorian times.
Pevensey Castle is a great educational day out in East Sussex, encompassing rich history and fun things to do and see for adults and children. With a history stretching back over 16 centuries, Pevensey Castle chronicles more graphically than any other fortress the story of Britain's south coast defences.
Opening in 1968, Sherborne Museum evolved from the town's Historical Society, which was its founding body. From the outset, it aimed to be an independent museum representing the history and life of Sherborne and its environs.
Built by architect Inigo Jones under the patronage of James I, the ceiling was painted by Peter Paul Rubens.
The hall was built for the performance of ‘Masques’ and for grand ambassadorial receptions.
Wymondham Museum gives you a wide-ranging overview of life in the town through the centuries and there's plenty for children to do too.
Housed in the town’s Bridewell, or prison, you can visit a dungeon and a police cell and learn about the Bridewell’s link to prison reformer John Howard.
Home of the exciting museum and exhibition dedicated to the 2 Tone record label and its bands The Specials, The Selecter, Madness,The Beat et al.
Poltimore House is a significant Devon landmark, historically and architecturally. The drawing shows it as it was c.1900. The speculative reconstructions at the bottom of this page show it as it might be, once restored and back to full use.
The Heritage Centre is the ideal place to come to find out about Bude and the surrounding area before setting out to explore the town, canal wharf, beaches and to take lovely cliff walks.
One of the most complete surviving friaries of Dominican 'black friars' in England, later converted into a Tudor house and cloth factory. Notable features include the church and the fine scissor-braced dormitory roof.
No. 1 Royal Crescent is a superb example of how Bath was developed in the 18th Century. It was built to the designs of John Wood the Younger in 1767 – 1774 as the first house in the Royal Crescent, a Bath stone crescent of thirty houses with a uniform Palladian design to the principal facade.
When walking into the celebrated Cathedral Close in Salisbury, visitors step back into a past world, and on entering Mompesson House, featured in the award-winning film Sense and Sensibility, the feeling of leaving the modern world behind is deepened.
This beautiful 17th-century merchant's house is a hidden gem in London, a place of unique charm and ambience.
Lady Binning bought the house in 1936 and filled it with her highly decorative collections of porcelain, Georgian furniture and 17th-century needlework.
The Nelson Museum celebrates the life and times of Admiral Lord Nelson. Find out about his remarkable naval career, the sea battles he won, his Norfolk childhood, scandalous love life and untimely death at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Packed with dramatic and moving details the museum also offers ships' games, family fun days and a garden for picnics.
This 'Castle of the Rock' is famous for its spectacular views, which take in no less than eight counties on a clear day.
The MCC Museum was opened by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh in 1953 and is one of the oldest sporting museums in the world.
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 viral video shows a black girl being assaulted by a white woman in a corridor.
Police in Iceland are investigating after a British schoolgirl was slapped and chased by a tour guide in a hotel corridor.
The schoolgirl, 13, who attended Harris Girls’ Academy, was assaulted whilst on a school trip to Iceland to see the Northern Lights. The incident occurred at Hotel Örk, Hveragerdi on 13th October.