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Museums and Living History

School trips and visits

The past brought to life

The value of a good quality museum cannot be overstated when it comes to furthering our knowledge of history. The best places will spend time and money analysing how their visitors interact with the exhibits - what they stop to look at, which information boards they read, where they stand and perhaps whether they make any notes. If the museum does not understand what people are taking away from their visit, they were either really lucky in getting everything exactly right to begin with, or else they don't care about their visitor's enjoyment, and will quickly suffer declining attendances.

The museums listed below are examples of venues who have worked hard to give their visitors the best possible experience, and more than that, they cater excellently for school groups in particular. Whether you visit somewhere big enough to get lost in, like the British Museum, or a small regional venue like Gladstone Pottery, you will find a wide range of subjects including national railways, aeronautical, waterways, and heritage.

As a child I wasn't particularly fond of museums. After I had gazed into the hundredth glass display case and read the faded yellow postcard notes about the objects on view, I quickly started to lose interest. I didn't really understand the value of what I was seeing. Thankfully, the people who run such places these days are more aware of how to engage the younger generation in particular and some venues even bring the past to life in the form of living museums, complete with people in period costume and real shops displaying or selling goods that would have been available at the time. What could possible inspire your students more about the subject than standing them in a street as it would have been one or two hundred years ago and letting them explore with all of their senses.

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Herbert Art Gallery & Museum

location icon West Midlands

Herbert Art Gallery & Museum

We are also home to Dippy the dinosaur; A life-size replica of a Diplodocus carnegii skeleton – a 26 metre-long dinosaur that lived 155-145 million years ago. We offer options for self-led visits and also facilitated workshops, led by our experts.

Museum of Liverpool

location icon North West

Museum of Liverpool

Museum of Liverpool offers a great selection of curriculum-linked workshops for schools and groups, from a session exploring local transport to an arty 'Best Buildings' workshop all about Liverpool's stunning landscape.

Coventry Transport Museum

location icon West Midlands

Coventry Transport Museum

Coventry Transport Museum houses the largest publicly owned collection of British vehicles on the planet and tells the story of a city which changed the world through transport.

The Food Museum

location icon East of England

The Food Museum

At the Food Museum we help people learn more about food. Where it comes from, how it’s made and the role it’s played down the centuries in shaping how we live our lives.


The MAD Museum

location icon West Midlands

The MAD Museum

The Mechanical Art & Design Museum, or 'MAD Museum' for short, exhibits over 90 interactive pieces of kinetic art & automata made by inventors from all around the world. This is the UK’s only centre for mechanical art & combines learning with fun

Chesters Roman Fort and Museum

location icon North East

Chesters Roman Fort and Museum

Chesters Roman Fort on Hadrian's Wall gives a real sense of how the Roman army was trying to assert power over this part of the British countryside. The venue, complete with museum is a fantastic learning resource for school groups.

International Slavery Museum

location icon North West

International Slavery Museum

International Slavery Museum offers a selection of curriculum-linked workshops for schools and groups, from a session exploring the impacts of the transatlantic slave trade, to fascinating tours of the museum.

Maritime Museum

location icon North West

Maritime Museum

Maritime Museum offers curriculum-linked workshops for schools and groups, where students can learn about the Titanic and its passengers.


World Museum

location icon North West

World Museum

World Museum offers a fantastic selection of curriculum-linked workshops for schools and groups, from sessions on ancient civilisations, to activities in its planetarium, aquarium and bug house.

World Museum - Virtual Classroom

location icon All UK Regions

World Museum - Virtual Classroom

World Museum's virtual classroom on mummification in ancient Egypt takes students through the various stages of the embalming process and offers a pop quiz based on the museum’s handling collection and ancient Egyptian artefacts.

National Waterfront Museum

location icon Wales

National Waterfront Museum

Explore the story of Wales's past, present and future contributions to industry and innovation, via cutting-edge, interactive technology married with traditional displays.

The National Waterways Museum

location icon North West

The National Waterways Museum

The National Waterways Museum brings together a unique fleet of historic boats with rich collections and archives to tell the story of Britains canals and waterways. The historic docks at Ellesmere Port provide


National Museum Cardiff

location icon Wales

National Museum Cardiff

You can create your own visit or let us do it for you. We offer you a range of stimulating workshops which explore parts of our collections in more detail. All workshops are linked to the National Curriculum.

Gladstone Pottery Museum

location icon West Midlands

Gladstone Pottery Museum

Gladstone is the only complete Victorian pottery factory from the days when coal-burning ovens made the world's finest bone china. Explore the cobbled yard, with huge bottle kilns and take part in daily worksho

National Coal Museum Wales

location icon Wales

National Coal Museum Wales

Big Pit explores all aspects of mining, from strikes to disasters, from women in mining communities to the children forced to work underground in the nineteenth century.

Scottish Maritime Museum

location icon Scotland

Scottish Maritime Museum

The Scottish Maritime Museum contains exhibitions and collections that tell the story of that great maritime tradition. The sites have a collection of vessels that represent 150 years history.


National Railway Museum

location icon Yorkshire

National Railway Museum

Explore the science, technology and history of the railways with the NRM's Learning Team. We offer a range of workshops for all ages to help you get the most out of your visit, all FREE.

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