Schools

Welcome to York Castle Museum's schools pages.

Click here to download our Primary Schools 2008/9 programme (1.2MB) and here to download our History Programme for Secondary Schools 2008/9 (372KB).

Our fascinating museum of everyday life takes a journey through 400 years of British history, including our recreated Victorian Street, Kirkgate, the Toy Gallery, Civil War Gallery, The Sixties Gallery and a selection of period rooms.

We also have a programme of exhibitions, including Spotless! about the history of cleaning and washing, From Cradle to Grave, looking at birth, marriage and death, and Seeing it Through, about life in York during the Second World War.  Click here to find out more.

We have two education rooms, including a Victorian classroom, pictured above, which is used for some workshops and is open to visitors at other times.

Badge of Quality 

Our dedicated team of educationalists were among the first in the country to be awarded the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge.

The Quality Badge is a new scheme designed to combine both recognition of learning and safety issues.

The scheme is part of the Government's £4.5m Out and About package which encourages teachers to take their classes out of the classroom.

 

Making a Visit

We offer discounts for school group bookings - for more information about prices and booking, click here.

Workshop Programme

A range of bookable education workshops support Early Years, Key Stage 1 & 2 and Key Stage 3 & 4 pupils. Click here for more information.

Downloadable Resources

We offer downloadable trails and resources so you can make your own self-guided visit. Click here for more.

Opportunities for Teachers

Why not use our museum as a venue for your staff development days? This is an ideal way to combine an away day from school with practical and interactive sessions to explore learning in museums, or to brush up on your own knowledge and skills. Our Assistant Curators of Learning are happy to assist with planning your day.

In addition we can offer practical activities in our learning rooms, tours and talks by staff, behind-the-scenes access, cross-curricula approaches to learning outside the classroom, including culture, history, science, art, archaeology and citizenship, tea and coffee on arrival and assistance with lunch arrangements.