Peterhead Prison School Trip

Peterhead Aberdeenshire AB42 2ZX

Working directly with the educational provider removes the middleman, reducing miscommunication about logistics, risk management, and student needs. Schools benefit from faster responses and more accurate information about schedules, requirements, and activities, as well as greater flexibility to make changes or special requests such as dietary needs, accessibility, or timing. Direct booking also allows schools to verify safety standards, risk assessments, and supervision policies firsthand, while avoiding extra commission or agency fees, making trips more affordable for students and their families.

What activities are available during educational visits?

Our educational visits provide a unique and immersive learning experience that brings history to life for students.

The visit includes two core elements:
Guided Tour: Led by trained guides and facilitators, your students will uncover the prison's rich history and learn what life behind bars was really like for prisoners, officers and visitors alike at Scotland's Toughest Jail.
Self-Guided Tour: Equipped with a map, your students will be able to explore the over 130-year-old prison at their own pace, allowing them to delve into areas of personal interest. Key areas include the prison cells, the Booking-In Office, the chilling Silent Cell, the prison hospital and much more!

Which curriculum topics do we cater for?

Local History School Trip

Click to read full text With over 130 years of real prison heritage, Peterhead Prison brings to life the changing nature of both crime and punishment across the last century.

Students explore how definitions of crime have shifted. The experience supports understanding of key concepts such as rehabilitation, deterrence, protection and punishment, with each term introduced and discussed in a real prison environment.

Guided exploration helps students compare past and present justice systems, examine evolving attitudes toward offenders, and understand how cultural values shape the way societies respond to crime.

This hands-on learning deepens historical knowledge, encourages critical thinking and makes the study of Crime and Punishment both engaging and memorable.

Cultural Education School Trip

Walking through original cells and corridors brings past societies to life, helping learners understand how justice, human rights, and everyday life have evolved. Through real stories of former inmates and staff, students develop empathy and cultural awareness, while Guided Tours support critical thinking about crime, punishment and social change.

The prison's preserved architecture provides a rich heritage learning experience and a unique cross-curricular link to History, Citizenship, English and the Arts.

This visit engages students emotionally and intellectually, offering memorable, hands-on learning that strengthens their cultural education and connects classroom learning to real-world history.

Citizenship

What size groups do we cater for?

On-site classroom facilities?

Yes We do have the ability to provide a classroom-like environment. You can tell us your group size and any specific requirements in the form below.

Is there first aid on site?

Basic first aid cover

Access for visitors with disabilities

Accessible Toilets
We have accessible toilet facilities located at the main visitor centre block and in our café area, the latter also including a baby changing facility if required.
We also have an accessible toilet in our Lifeboat Museum located within the grounds on the prison museum and clearly marked on your maps provided upon arrival.
The width of the accessible toilet doors and support facilities:
• Door frame 900mm
• Door frame to bar 850mm
• Bar to floor 670mm
• Height of sink 680mm

Lift
Most of the site is suitable for those requiring wheelchair access. There is, however, lift access to the final tour point and café area.
The lift is located outside the former hospital complex and is clearly visible from the former exercise yard and marked on your map provided upon arrival.
• The path on the approach to the lift is 1900mm wide.
• The width of the door to the lift is 900mm
• The lift internal size is 1400mm deep and 1m wide.
 

Please note, there are three steps down at the end of A Hall and three steps up into Segregation. For anyone who struggles with this due to mobility, a staff member can be available to show an alternative route. Please make us aware upon booking.

BSL
Whilst there is no-one proficient in BSL within the team, we are able to organise tours to be conducted in BSL with prior notice.

 
Assistance Dogs
We welcome assistance dogs and assistance dogs in training and can provide water bowls for them. Please ask at the main reception for additional support if required.
 
Wheelchairs and mobility scooters
The route is accessible for wheelchairs. Please feel free to call our main reception any day between 10am and 4pm to discuss any special needs you may have on .

Visitors with Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Our tours as suitable for all and we welcome any extra teachers or 1:1 assistance needed free of charge for those who need them.

Guided Tours: Join our friendly guides to discover the fascinating stories of Peterhead Prison. Learn about what life was like inside over the last 130 years, see where people lived and worked, and hear amazing true tales from Scotland's only convict prison.

Self-Guided Tours: Take your time exploring at your own pace. Our Self-Guided Tour is perfect for students and visitors with special educational needs, offering a calm and flexible way to experience a real prison. Find out what prisons are really like, what they do, and how they have changed over time.

Who are Peterhead Prison?

Once known as Scotland's Alcatraz and the country's only true Convict Prison, Peterhead Prison offers an educational, engaging and immersive journey behind bars.

With a mission to preserve, protect and promote its rich history and heritage, Peterhead Prison sheds light on life behind bars from the Victorian era to the modern day. Visitors can expect a unique and immersive experience combined with first class customer service.

Originally opened in 1888, Peterhead Prison holds over 130 years of history within its towering walls. It was also home to Britain's first state-owned, passenger-carrying railway.

Today, visitors can embark on a journey behind bars with a Self-Guided or Guided Tour, exploring the prison grounds at their own pace. Guests can uncover gripping stories, fascinating facts and immerse themselves in its hauntingly beautiful atmosphere.