Visits

Visits to historical sites, museums, and galleries offer exciting opportunities to engage with the past. Hands on experiences give an insight into the world beyond the classroom. This section enables you to have the confidence to plan and undertake visits which effectively develop children’s learning.

Sort by: Date (Newest first) | Title A-Z
Show: All | Articles | Podcasts | Multipage Articles
  • The British Museum: Creative ICT for Kids

    Article

    With school budgets as they are it is amazing that any primary schools can fund history trips to the British Museum [BM]. The education department of the British Museum [BM] is well aware of these constraints and tries to meet the needs of teachers, parents/carers and children in a wide...

    Click to view
  • Using sites and the environment

    Article

    Focus and Purpose A Year 5 class of 27 children were to visit the North Gallery at Petworth House in Sussex, where the 3rd Earl of Egremont kept his collection of sculptures and pictures. If the children were to learn I needed to give them a focus and a purpose....

    Click to view
  • Saltaire: Planning for an effective learning experience on a living site

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. In the autumn of 2009 I agreed to contribute to a project looking at how Saltaire village, Bradford could be developed as an educational site. This is a very popular site visited by many local schools,...

    Click to view
  • Throw away the worksheets!

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Those teachers who can still manage a school trip to the British Museum are in for a treat. The new Michael Cohen Gallery (Room 61) is everything a museum exhibition room should be. Its focus is...

    Click to view
  • Cross Curricular Project on a famous person

    Article

    Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated. If you are considering studying someone other than Florence Nightingale you have two basic options. You can either choose a local character who would be more relevant to the children, or you could study someone who...

    Click to view
  • Bringing the past to life!

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. As an archaeologist who, after being a bit bored with history at school, discovered the excitement of the past through digging in dirt and finding things, I get frustrated by people not ‘getting' what archaeology...

    Click to view
  • Children's thinking in archaeology

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Young children enjoy prehistory Tactile, Physical and Enactive engagement with archaeological remains stimulates, excites and promotes children's logical, imaginative, creative and deductive thinking. Through archaeology there are infinite opportunities for ‘reasonable guesses' about sources and...

    Click to view
  • Teaching about the translatlantic slave trade and emancipation

    Article

    Introduction – slavery, abolition and emancipation 25 March 2007 marked the bicentenary of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. It is not compulsory to teach about the slave trade. However, the links to the National Curriculum – particularly in history, citizenship and geography – are clear. The...

    Click to view
  • Discovery Visits: What's New at English Heritage for Schools?

    Article

    In October 2005 English Heritage launched an exciting new National Learning Strategy. This strategy marks a new development for English Heritage and heralds the introduction of a brand new service at many of our fascinating sites which will enhance and enliven school visits.

    Click to view
  • Piecing together the puzzle: Some thoughts on historical sites

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. It is a sad fact that visits to historical sites have become a diminishing feature of primary school children's experience in recent years. Stringent health and safety regulations, tight budgets, exorbitant transport costs...

    Click to view
  • Using a Local Museum, Fulham Palace, the Hidden Jewel of West London

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. ‘The 2,500 museums in the United Kingdom are a resource for public learning of exceptional educational, social, economic and spiritual value - a common wealth. This wealth is held in trust by museums for the...

    Click to view
  • In the Footsteps of our Ancestors: Beamish - a unique educational experience

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. What kind of experience will be remembered by the children in your class in 20 or 30 years’ time? A trip to Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum, would be a likely candidate....

    Click to view
  • Cabinets of Curiosities, The History of Museums

    Article

    Delving into the origin and history of museums, one finds that particular themes emerge which are still present amongst the underpinning dynamics of museums in the 21st Century. Inseparable from the story of museums and galleries, for example, are the notions of ‘collecting’ and ‘curiosity’ and likewise, one’s attention is...

    Click to view
  • 'Hands On' Archaeology, A Case Study: Visiting the Archaeological Resource Centre (ARC) in York

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Developing an understanding of archaeology during historical studies can be important. It enables children to realise how we come to know and indeed understand about the past. Studying the work of archaeology helps develop vital...

    Click to view
  • A visit to the Red Lodge, Bristol: using ICT to record and communicate children's learning in history

    Article

    There is a huge potential for using ICT to enhance children’s historical learning. This article suggests ways in which ICT was employed to record children’s impressions of their visit to an historical building.

    Click to view
  • Can you bring the dead back to life...?

    Article

    Victoria Rogers highlights the importance of encouraging school visits to heritage sites and museums.

    Click to view
  • Beyond the classroom walls: museums and primary history

    Article

    Apart from the difficulty of getting hold of a hard copy of the new National Curriculum framework, museum educators have little to worry about in the results of the curriculum review. The framework reveals few changes that will affect what museums have been doing for the last eight or so...

    Click to view