Key Stage 3 (12-14)

Key Stage 3 (12-14)

At Key Stage 3 (KS3) the History curriculum includes a large span of British and world history, and there are few schools that are more than a couple of hours from a venue that will enhance pupils’ historical study. Local religious centres and town halls will be a good start for the study of ‘church, state and society in Britain’, but we would encourage schools to look at the Houses of Parliament and the Welsh Assembly as candidates for possible visits - both of whom offer tailored services to schools.

Visits to the foreign 1914-18 WWI sites are firm school favourites already, and are likely to be doubly popular in the next four years. Many schools combine the history element with some linguistic extras to develop pupils’ ability to ‘speak coherently and confidently, with increasingly accurate pronunciation and intonation.’

In regards to drama and music, many pupils will have been to plays and musicals before the age of 11, but KS3 theatre visits will encourage interest in the subjects and develop the national requirement for ‘a deepening understanding of the music that they perform and to which they listen, and its history.’

The KS3 curriculum requires schools to develop pupils’ adventurous spirits, using group activities to encourage pupils to ‘take part in outdoor and adventurous activities which present intellectual and physical challenges.’ Many national providers specialise in this area, providing imaginative activities for all kinds of age and ability groups, with a large number tailoring activities for those with special educational needs and disabled pupils.

Suitable Venues

The Falconry Centre contains many species of birds of prey, flown by the resident Falconer. You are able to fly some of the beautiful birds yourself.

Sometimes described as ‘the islands at the edge of the world’, the archipelago of St Kilda is located 41 miles west of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. Formed from the rim of an ancient volcano, it is the remotest part of the British Isles.

A Bronze Age stone circle, the focus of many legends, set in dramatic moorland on Stapeley Hill. It once consisted of some 30 stones, 15 of which are still visible.

The guest house and other remains of a Benedictine priory: much of the fine 12th to 14th century monastic church survives as the parish church.

The Benedictine priory of St Mary the Virgin and St Blaise was founded in about 1117 by Robert de la Haye, Lord of Halnaker. It was a cell of the abbey at Lessay in Normandy in France and, when founded, had a community of only three monks.

This great abbey, marking the rebirth of Christianity in southern England, was founded shortly after AD 597 by St Augustine.

This 19th-century cross of Saxon design marks what is traditionally thought to have been the site of St Augustine's landing on the shores of England in AD 597. Accompanied by 30 followers, Augustine is said to have held a mass here before moving on.

Remains of a grammar school for church choristers, founded in the mid-15th century by Ralph, Lord Cromwell, the builder of nearby Tattershall Castle (National Trust).

Tattershall College was built in 1460, four years after the death of its patron, Lord Cromwell, and was completed by William of Wainfleet, Bishop of Winchester.

Well-preserved 15th-century gatehouse, the sole survivor of a small Benedictine priory. A miniature 'pele-tower' containing two storeys of comfortable rooms, it later became a fortified vicarage, a defence against border raiders.

Wolvesey has been an important residence of the wealthy and powerful Bishops of Winchester since Anglo-Saxon times. Standing next to Winchester Cathedral, the extensive surviving ruins of the palace date largely from the 12th-century work of Bishop Henry of Blois.

Woodhenge is well worth a visit, especially if you are also heading to the nearby World Heritage Site of Stonehenge (located approximately 2 miles away).  

Dating from 2300 BC, Woodhenge is thought to have marked a particular stage in the evolution of human religious belief and community organisation. This found a more permanent form in nearby Stonehenge.

Wymondham Priory - it was raised to the status of an Abbey a mere ninety years before its suppression - was founded in 1107 as a community of Benedictine monks. The founder was William D'Aubigny, sometimes referred to as d'Albini, Chief Butler to King Henry I whose widow, Alice of Louvrain, was later to marry William's son.

The Cathedral is the College Chapel for the College as well as the cathedral church for the Diocese of Oxford.

Blackburn Cathedral is one of England's newest Cathedrals, yet it is one of the country's oldest places of Christian worship.

Mount Saint Bernard Abbey is situated in Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire. An area of particular natural beauty in the very heart of England. It is home to an order of Cistercian Monks of the Strict Observance (Trappists).

Holy Trinity, Stratford, on the banks of the River Avon, is probably England's most visited Parish Church. As well as being a thriving Parish church, it receives many thousands of visitors each year due to the fact that William Shakespeare was baptised here, worshipped here, and is buried in the chancel.

This pinnacled gatehouse, elaborately decorated in East Anglian 'flushwork', is the sole survivor of the wealthy Benedictine abbey of St John. It was built c.1400 to strengthen the abbey's defences following the Peasants' Revolt. Later part of the mansion of the Royalist Lucas family, the gatehouse was bombarded and stormed by Parliamentarian soldiers during the Civil War siege.

Thornton Abbey's enormous and ornate fortified gatehouse is the largest and amongst the finest in England. This North Lincolnshire tourist attraction is the ideal way to spend a day.

The impressive remains of an abbey founded by Stephen, later King of England, including much of the east end and west tower of the church, the ornately decorated chapter house and the cloister buildings.

Substantial remains of an early Tudor friary church of Franciscan 'grey friars'.

The Grey Friars, or Franciscans, were followers of St Francis of Assisi and founded many religious houses across Europe.

They earned their name from the grey habits that were worn as a symbol of their vow of poverty.

The extensive remains of one of the wealthiest and most powerful Benedictine monasteries in England, shrine of St Edmund.

They include the complete 14th century Great Gate and Norman Tower, and the impressive ruins and altered west front of the immense church.

The delightful village of Castle Acre boasts an extraordinary wealth of history and is a very rare and complete survival of a Norman planned settlement, including a castle, town, parish church and associated monastery. All this is the work of a great Norman baronial family, the Warennes, mainly during the 11th and 12th centuries.

A modest but complete and attractive 14th century chantry chapel, perhaps originally a hospital.

The modest flint and cobble chapel retains some attractive medieval features and, despite uncertainties over its origin, the rarity of medieval hospitals lends added interest.

Easby Abbey is one of the most picturesque monastic sites in Yorkshire. It is also one of the best-preserved examples in the British Isles of a monastery belonging to the Premonstratensian order, founded in France by St Norbert in 1120.

Byland Abbey is the perfect place to stop on a family day out, or if you’re walking or cycling in the North York Moors National Park.

Once one of the greatest monasteries in England, Byland Abbey inspired the design of church buildings throughout the North. 

When you come to The Lyceum, we want your visit to be as relaxed and enjoyable as possible, from booking your tickets to the performance itself.

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