New education offerings add to Bristol Museums' appeal for school visits

Bookings are open for the new academic year at Bristol Museums, with the new learning opportunities launching in the autumn term. 

Bristol Museums is made up of Bristol Museums & Art Gallery, M Shed, The Georgian House Museums, The Red Lodge Museum, Blaise Museum and Bristol Archives. All museums in the collection are free to visit but school groups of ten or more should contact the learning team in advance to book.

Among the new school offerings are workshops with focuses on Mary Anning and Romans in Bristol and Tudor loan boxes to help schools engage with period topics.

Workshops for schools

Mary Anning workshops, aimed at Key Stage 1 pupils focus on some of the palaeontologist’s fossil discoveries in Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, with a focus on fossils from the Jurassic era. 

Key Stage 2 Romans in Bristol workshops allow pupils to investigate everyday life through real and replica Roman artefacts and replica costumes. The workshops are designed to complement Bristol’s Kings Weston Roman Villa. 

School groups can visit Kings Weston Roman Villa for curator-led tours to see Roman walls, mosaic floors, underfloor heating and a bath suite. The villa is open for visits between April and September. 

Museum loan boxes

Loan boxes can be borrowed by Bristol-based schools and all pupils to handle period objects to learn about specific areas of history. Schools can borrow them for up to a full term.

Tudor loan boxes, available from the autumn term, will provide pupils with the opportunity to handle objects such as toys, everyday Tudor-period items and clothing to learn about Tudor Bristol - and the loan boxes are accompanied by a webinar.

Other loan boxes set to be launched at Bristol Museums are Hieroglyphics, focusing on ancient Egyptian writing and beliefs as well as Victorian Christmas looking at the festive food, decorations and party games used in Victorian England.