FREE Trips available!

Osborne

English Heritage School Trips

Why book 'Osborne' with English Heritage for School Trips and Educational Visits?

Osborne offers a real insight into the private lives of Queen Victoria and her family. Their Isle of Wight home can support learning in many aspects of the curriculum, across numerous subjects.

Support your teaching in the classroom by stepping out of it. A visit to Osborne will help you bring learning to life, covering multiple topics across the curriculum and key stages.
KS1 History: Significant historical events, people and places in the locality. Significant changes beyond living memory. The lives of significant individuals in the past
KS1 Science: Identify a variety of plants and trees, describe the basic structure of a variety of flowering plants and trees. Identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited, identify a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats
KS2 History: A local history study. A study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils' chronological knowledge beyond 1066
KS2 Science: Working scientifically. Identify and name a variety of living things in the local and wider environment
KS2 Art and Design: Use the house and grounds as inspiration for the pupils' own work, create sketch books to record observations
KS3 History: A local history study. Ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain, 1745-1901
KS3 Art and Design: History of art, craft, design and architecture

Teacher Checklist

Risk Assessments
Inspection Visits
Free Places for Teachers
Free Places for Students
Resource Packs

What activities are available during group visits?

Enjoy a free self-led visit to Osborne and design your day to suit your curriculum needs. Tour the house, including the state rooms and family rooms and marvel at the exotic Durbar room, containing the gifts and paintings given to Queen Victoria as Empress of India. Explore the extensive grounds, including the beach where you can enjoy a pre-booked ‘Royal Tea’ with your pupils and see the Swiss Cottage with its own gardens, once tended by the royal children.

Due to limitations on capacity inside the main house, booking a time slot to visit is essential. Please request a slot when making your booking.

Our award-winning expert-led Discovery Visits are interactive and immersive. Best of all, we lead them for you. At just £100 per session per class they have been specifically designed to meet the needs of different groups across the key stages. Discover the exciting world of Victorian explorers through object handling and storytelling, have housekeeper Mrs Smith put your class through their paces as Victorian household staff, or discover the history and geology of the Isle of Wight.

Which Curriculum Subjects do you cater for?

Curriculum topics available: Design.

The house and grounds at Osborne provide excellent inspiration for pupils' own work back in the classroom, and the rich interiors of the house are an opportunity to study art history and design.

Curriculum topics available: Queen Victoria.

Find out more about the lives of Queen Victoria and her family, by exploring the house, Swiss Cottage and grounds. Enhance your learning with a Discovery Visit workshop, and discover the life of a Victorian servant with housekeeper Mrs Pilkington in WAITING ON HAND AND FOOT! (KS2), or enter the exciting world of the Victorian explorer in THE ADVENTURES OF A VICTORIAN EXPLORER (KS2).

Curriculum topics available: Plants, Living things and habitats, Habitats.

The grounds at Osborne are filled with a variety of plants and trees, which are perfect for studying KS1-2 plants, living things and habitats topics.

What size groups do you cater for?

There are generally no limits to the size of education group, provided the group meets our ratios for leaders to learners. Our Discovery Visit workshops are suitable for groups of up to 30. Please see our school visit terms and conditions on our website for further details.

Do you offer on-site classroom facilities?

Many of our sites have education rooms that can be booked. Please check the relevant schools property page before making a booking.

Is there first aid on site?

Yes

Do you offer access for visitors with disabilities?

Yes – please see our website for further details.

Do you cater for visitors with Special Educational Needs (SEN)?

Our facilities have been designed to be as accessible as possible in order to meet the different needs of our visitors. A summary of the facilities provided can be found on our schools property pages. If you or anyone in your group has particular access needs, please let us know at the point of booking or get in touch with our bookings team before you visit. Please note that some facilities may require booking in advance.

Anything else?

Due to limitations on capacity inside the main house and the Swiss Cottage, booking a time slot to visit these is essential. Please request a slot when making your booking. If you wish to use the Education Room, it must also be requested when making your booking.

Who are English Heritage?

English Heritage cares for over 400 historic buildings, monuments and sites - from world-famous prehistoric sites to grand medieval castles, from Roman forts on the edges of the empire to a Cold War bunker. Through these, we bring the story of England to life for over 10 million people each year, over 300,000 of whom are education visitors.
We’re the largest heritage provider of school trips and provide a wealth of free educational resources, alongside expert-led, paid-for workshops for KS1-4. The high-quality of our education provision has been recognised most recently with a number of Sandford awards. Caring for our places and their collections, for the benefit of this and future generations is a cornerstone of everything we do.
We are a charity, no. 1140351, and a company, no. 07447221, registered in England.