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.
Set in a handsome, grade II listed townhouse on Swaffham’s Georgian Market Place, Swaffham Museum has elegant rooms housing rich collections and 21st century displays with lots for all the family to enjoy.
Find out how Swaffham man Howard Carter discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamen and see remarkable archaeological finds from the local Swaffham area too.
Formerly the Grange Museum of Community History, Brent Museum has a collection consisting of objects relating to the local Brent area and the communities who live there.
The Fisherman's hospital is situated on the Market Square in Great Yarmouth.
The Corporation of Great Yarmouth founded the hospital in 1702. It was set up as Almshouses for 'decayed' fishermen: providing housing for twenty fishermen and their wives aged sixty and over who could no longer provide for themselves.
On the seafront in Sheringham, a new museum has opened that tells the story of the town and its proud, brave and independent people.
The Elizabethan House is probably one of the Yarmouth quayside houses Daniel Defoe described as looking like ‘little palaces’. This handsome 16th century home invites to you to look into the lives of the families who lived there from Tudor through to Victorian times.
Opening in 1968, Sherborne Museum evolved from the town's Historical Society, which was its founding body. From the outset, it aimed to be an independent museum representing the history and life of Sherborne and its environs.
Wymondham Museum gives you a wide-ranging overview of life in the town through the centuries and there's plenty for children to do too.
Housed in the town’s Bridewell, or prison, you can visit a dungeon and a police cell and learn about the Bridewell’s link to prison reformer John Howard.
The Heritage Centre is the ideal place to come to find out about Bude and the surrounding area before setting out to explore the town, canal wharf, beaches and to take lovely cliff walks.
Home of the exciting museum and exhibition dedicated to the 2 Tone record label and its bands The Specials, The Selecter, Madness,The Beat et al.
The MCC Museum was opened by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh in 1953 and is one of the oldest sporting museums in the world.
he King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Museum received £204,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the refurbishment of this re-telling of the story of this famous regiment which was founded in 1757. Generous contributions towards the cost of the project were also received from the Regimental Trustees and the Friends of Doncaster Museums
Coniston is a prime example of a place where nature and history, environment and man meet in a topographical dimension and together generate culture. The Ruskin Museum is Coniston’s Cabinet of Curiosities, which features: a Lake and a Mountain, a Prophet for the Millennium, a real Boy’s Own Hero and Swallows and Amazons.
Part of the Stephen Beaumont Museum, it includes a padded cell and other exhibits from the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, built in 1818.
The Mental Health Museum is a unique museum in the heart of the Fieldhead site in Wakefield. It is run by South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
St Bartholemew's is the largest NHS Trust in the UK serving a population of 2.5 million in east London and beyond and our hospitals have long and important histories.
The museum is in room 101 at New Scotland Yard, Victoria – an L-shaped space crammed with glass display cabinets containing items covering over 140 years of crime and criminals.
The National Conservation Centre, formerly the Midland Railway Goods Warehouse, is located in Liverpool.
Explore history, art & design, technology and much more through our fascinating collections.
Situated in the heart of Cardiff’s elegant civic centre, today it houses Wales’s national archaeology, art, geology and natural history collections as well as major touring and temporary exhibitions.
The leading authority on the history of the British Army is a first class museum that moves, inspires, challenges, educates and entertains.
Step back in time at the National Roman Legion Museum and explore life in a far-flung outpost of the mighty Roman Empire. Wales was the furthest outpost of the Roman Empire. In AD 75, the Romans built a fortress at Caerleon that would guard the region for over 200 years.
Groups
Pre-booked groups benefit from:
Heritage centre at Llanberis, bringing back to life the inheritance of the North Wales slate industry.
Dinorwig Quarry closed in 1969. Today, rather than fashioning wagons and forging rails, the workshops tell a very special story: the story of the Welsh slate industry.
The National Memorial Arboretum is the perfect venue for developing an understanding of Remembrance, memorials and the impact of conflict. It provides a relaxing place where current and future generations can remember loved ones, whilst wandering through growing woodland. There are over 300 memorials within the 150 acres of the arboretum.
Located in the historic former Cambrian Mills, the National Wool Museum is a special place with a spellbinding story to tell.
Wool was historically the most important and widespread of Wales's industries.
Intrepid story-makers enter through the chocolate doors into this great little award-winning and family-friendly Museum. We have two fun and fact-packed biographical galleries and a fantabulous interactive Story Centre.
Explore the amazingly varied history of Maidenhead at this Heritage Centre with lots of hands-on activities for families.
The permanent Story of Maidenhead exhibition with Roman Dress-Up and other regular family activities is supplemented with five free exhibitions a year in the Sammes Gallery, so there is always something new to see and do.
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.