Home to the world-famous recreated Victorian Street, Kirkgate - which has just got bigger in 2012 - and the York Castle Prison Experience, York Castle Museum is the perfect venue to explore and understand how people have lived over the past 300 years.
Thousands of everyday historical objects are arranged in recreated period rooms and galleries exploring the Victorians, Houses and Homes, Toys, World War 2 and the 1960s to name but a few!
Find out about birth, marriage and death in Cradle to Grave or discover weapons and armour in the Military Galleries. Our suite of Studios offer you the chance to get hands on with the collection – look out for the special events taking place throughout the year.
We have two education rooms, including a Victorian classroom, which is used for some workshops and is open to visitors at other times.
Due to the nature of the exhibition, some gallery spaces may be closed for installation work throughout 2013, although our popular Victorian street, Kirkgate and new Toy Stories exhibition (opening February 2013) will remain open throughout.
Please telephone Group Bookings on 01904 650333 for up-to-date information when planning your school visit.
Making a Visit
Visit our Making a Visit page for more information on prices and school bookings.
Workshop Programme
Visit our Workshop Programme page for details of our extensive range of early years and primary school workshops.
Downloadable Resources
Visit our Downloadable Resources page for museum trails to use during self-guided visits.
Meet the Team
The Learning Team receive the Sandford Award
York Museums Trust has again been awarded the Sandford Award for Heritage Education and the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge for all our site, reflecting our high quality learning service.
All our sessions are delivered by experienced learning staff and include special opportunities for pupils to handle real museum artefacts from our collections.
Learning Staff
Amy Parkinson, Learning Manager Joanne Upton, Learning Co-ordinator Lucy Knock, Assistant Curator of Social History Learning (on maternity leave) Sarah Mortimer, Assistant Curator of Social History Learning (maternity cover) Gaby Lees, Assistant Curator of Arts Learning Emma Williams, Assistant Curator of Science and Archaeology Learning Aisha Ali-Sutcliffe, Assistant Curator of Learning, Creative and Community Projects Lynda Withers, Education Assistant
Follow us on Twitter @YMT_ Learning for all the latest news on schools, events, adult learning and more.
What our Visitors Think
"York Castle Museum is a superb social history museum with world-renowned displays, enthusiastic and well-motivated staff. Schools that come to the Castle for a workshop session will get a high quality product and their pupils will have a memorable experience.
"They will learn far more than they realise they are learning – the ultimate goal for all museum educators." Sandford Award judge, 2011.
York Art Gallery, York Castle Museum and the Yorkshire Museum & Gardens have all been awarded the Sandford Award for Heritage Education.
Resources
More learning resources and information from museums across the Yorkshire region are available at the My Learning website.