What are they and what do they involve?
Museums are venues with the primary purpose of exhibiting items of interest, often of a historical nature. The exact focus of a museum will vary, but they always offer educational insights into their artefacts and can include extra activities such as workshops and guided tours! Nationally-recognised museums dominate the school trip agenda and often feature amongst the most visited venues in Britain.
Incredibly there are museums for pretty much everything you can think of in the UK - from Prams to Anaesthetic, Radar to Pencils, Locks to Lawnmowers, Mustard to Surfing, Straw to Dog Collars (the canine kind), Teapots to Gas, or Magic to Embroidery. Search our list of venues for topics these fantastic, quirky places feature and you'll be surprised what pops up! It might inspire a new approach to a curriculum topic or a different slant on your locality.
What are the benefits?
A museum can be a highly educational place, especially for those with prior interest in the subjects on display. Taking a student group that have been covering a specific historical event or time period to a relevant museum will enable them to really connect with the subject and create an extra dimension to their education.
What students is it suitable for?
Provided the content of the museum is suitable for the age group, all students can benefit from a trip to a museum!
Costs?
Some museums are free for the public to access but there are some venues that have admission costs due to the specific nature of the exhibit – make sure to thoroughly check out the prices of museums in your area.
Safety Implications?
Museums can be quite large and confusing venues, so make sure your group of students is properly supervised to ensure nobody gets separated from the group!
Accreditations?
There is a national accreditation scheme in operation for museums - find out more HERE about Accredited Museums.
Come and see our wonderful collection of fashions dating from the early 18th century to the 1970's. Lime Tree House is a beautiful Georgian house built by John and William Bastard after the great fire of Blandford in 1731.
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The museum is run by the Brynmawr and District Museum Society and has won the Nationwide Building Society award for Community Endeavour. It has a varied collection of everyday artefacts including a collection of Brynmawr Furniture manufactured by one of the small industries set up by the Quakers in The Brynmawr Experiment.
The Abertillery and District Museum is run by the volunteers of Abertillery and District Museum Society. The Abertillery and District Museum originally opened on the 13th of January 1972 on the ground-floor of Abertillery library.
This new state of art musuem is managed by Blaina Heritage Action Group. The museum displays the heritage and history of Blaina and the local area.
As one of the first purpose built free museums to open outside of London in 1874, Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery houses a rich and fascinating collection covering fine art, decorative art, Egyptology, coins, manuscripts, natural history, social history and South Asia.
The Bishop’s Stortford Museum is housed in the original Victorian building which was the birthplace of Cecil Rhodes (1853 – 1902), financier and founder of diamond company De Beers. The museum is a local landmark and receives vistiors from all over the world many of whom come to see the unique collection of artefacts about Rhodes and his life.
This charming cottage, dating from 1502, is the oldest domestic building in the market town of Dereham. It houses local history and archaeology displays, including archive photos of Dereham and still has its authentic Victorian kitchen.
Murder, grave robbing and insanity are all part of the story of this fascinating and unique building - the Manor House has seen it all.
Built by Richard de Marnham in the 1270s, The Manor House is now probably one of the most important surviving medieval timber framed buildings in the Midlands and the most recent building to become part of Sandwell Museum Service.
Wednesbury Museum is Sandwell's Museum and Art Gallery. It is a purpose built Victorian Art Gallery, housing collections which include fine art paintings, applied art, old toys as well as one of the world's largest collections of Ruskin pottery.
It is free to visit the Museum and Art Gallery in Wednesbury. We have a platform lift to the first floor.
The Biggar Albion Foundation (Scottish Charity No. SC031203) is based in Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland. The Foundation is responsible for the Albion Club, the Albion Archive, the Biggar Rally and the Albion Museum at North Back Road, which houses a collection of historic Albion vehicles and units.
This unique Museum is housed in an unusual 18thC 'Butchers Shambles'.
Situated in the heart of the picturesque Georgian town of Bewdley, the museum offers a friendly welcome and entertaining experience for the whole family.
Goole Community Museum is located on the first floor of the Goole Library building, and explores the history of the historic port town of Goole through permanent displays and a temporary exhibition programme. The museum welcomes visits from schools and community groups, and has a dedicated Education Room in which pupils and visitors can work with the museum collections.
Have fun and learn about the history of Berwick-Upon-Tweed as you walk through the alleys of the old town recreated in the Window on Berwick displays. Meet some of its fascinating characters and find out about the old ways of life including the Mayor’s power to sentence to death!
The museum contains a well displayed and comprehensive collection tracing the history of the Regiment since its beginnings in 1794.
The Royal Berkshire Medical Museum is part of the Berkshire Medical Heritage Centre which was founded in 1997.
Our aim is to preserve and display items of historical medical interest particularly those with a local connection.
The museum is based in the former USAF hardened command post o the former Bentwaters airfield. We believe this is the only such building open ot the public in hte UK and Europe.
Central Museum is in the heart of Southend on Sea. Home to collections of local and natural history and archaeology. It has a changing programme of exhibitions and events throughout the year. Entry to our exhibitions and building is free.
Central Museum houses the collections of local and natural history and archaeology.
The Higgins Bedford unites on one site three previous cultural venues : Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford Museum and Bedford Gallery. The buildings themselves date back 200 years and have their own rich history of occupation and use, even before they became used for their more recent cultural past.
A beautiful museum in the small market town of Pickering.
Perfect for visiting when the sun's shining to enjoy the outdoor farm courtyard and riverside picnic area and just as great to spend time exploring our 27 themed rooms during the occasional Yorkshire rain shower.
The Museum was founded in 1976 and for twenty years occupied two rooms at the Quaker Hall, Beccles. In 1996 it moved to Leman House in Ballygate, Beccles where it can still be found. The collection has mainly been built up through donations and concentrates on objects and information related to Beccles and the surrounding area.
Beaminster Museum is a local history museum for Beaminster and thesurrounding villages and hamlets, including Broadwindsor, Burstock, Chedington, Corscombe, Drimpton, Halstock, Hooke, Mapperton, Melplash, Mosterton, Netherbury, Salway Ash, Stoke Abbott, South Perrott, Thorncombe and Toller Whelme.
Set within the beautiful, originally Elizabethan, walled gardens of The Almonry, Battle Museum of Local History preserves and exhibits hundreds of fascinating artefacts from the town's past, including objects from prehistoric and Roman times to the world's oldest effigy of Guy Fawkes and items from the two World Wars.
Bath has played a vital role in the development of communications, and improving the British postal service. It can thus boast many "firsts" as you will discover when you visit this fascinating museum, which will illustrate how the postal service played a major part in linking areas of the world".
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One of the most magnificent collections of musical instruments in the world with over 2,000 instruments from the Western orchestral music traditions from the renaissance, through the baroque, classical, romantic and up to modern times.
More than a thousand instruments are on display, by all the most important makers and from pre-eminent collectors.
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.