York Castle Museum

Workshop Programme

Our education workshops take place in the galleries and our education room. All workshops involve practical activities and handling real museum objects. Please note that admission charges also apply for schools from outside the York area. See Making a Visit for more information.

Select from Primary School Workshops or Secondary School Workshops to skip to the area you are interested in.

Primary School Workshops

Each workshop is for a maximum of 35 pupils, unless otherwise stated.

Click here for National Curriculum links for each workshop.

Prices

2009/2010
£2 per pupil

2010/2011
1 hour workshop - £60
1 hour 30 minutesworkshop - £70
2 hour workshop - £80 (prices vary during Special Weeks, see below)
All day workshop - £120

 

Special Weeks

The Spirit of Christmas Past: Unwrapping the Victorian Christmas, KS2
6 - 10 December, 2010
2 hours, £100

'Tis the season to join our Victorian characters as they each prepare for the Yuletide festivities!

Pupils explore how Christmas was celebrated by people of different Victorian classes, while shopping for presents in Kirkgate, our Victorian street, cooking traditional mince pies in our kitchen, making authentic decorations and singing traditional carols.

"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times..." Everyday life in Victorian York, KS2
13 - 17 June, 2011
2 hours, £100

Pupils experience opposite ends of Victorian society as they take a Grand Tour through the museum.

All pupils try their hand at doing the laundry, receive a short, sharp lesson in the Victorian schoolroom, explore the shops, businesses and factories in Kirkgate with the banker and help make butter to be taken back to school.

Victorians

The Victorian Schoolroom, KS2
1 hour

Pupils will be glad to get back to your classroom after an hour with our Victorian school teacher! After a cleanliness inspection of their hands pupils will experience the latest in 19th Century teaching, including some mental arithmetic and a poem recital. Oh, and not forgetting drill, of course! "Sit up straight or we will get the back-straighteners out!"

Troubled Times In Victorian York, KS2
1 hour

Our Victorian Street, Kirkgate, is always full of characters, but none are quite like Joseph Beedham, street-trader and loveable rogue. But when, at the end of a tour of Kirkgate, Joseph is arrested for theft, it is the pupils who must become his jury and help to decide his fate.

For Richer or Poorer: Everyday Life in Victorian Times, KS2
1 hour

Mr and Mrs Dale are simple, hard-working folk. Join one of them as we explore our Victorian Parlour and Moorland Cottage period rooms.

Through hands-on activities and discussion with our character, pupils compare and contrast everyday 19th century objects from a middle class and a working class context and discover how social class governed all aspects of the Victorian period.

Toys

Toys Through Time, KS1
1 hour

Pupils take a peep into our old toy chest to discover toys from the past. Through hands-on exploration they are encouraged to discuss the similarities and differences between toys, how they work and the materials from which they are made.

I Spy: Moving Picture Toys, KS1
1 hour

"Seeing is believing" when pupils explore a range of wonderfully mesmerizing old and new moving picture toys. They then take a trip to our Victorian toy shop and use a Vicorian penny to buy the materials they need to make their own moving picture toy to take back to school.

House and Homes

Nursery Rhyme Time, Foundation Stage
1 hour

Come along for nursery rhyme fun. This active workshop encourages children to recognise and have fun with traditional rhymes. Children will make a hickory-dickory-dock clock to take home, use role play and props, look at items from the collection and match them with the nursery rhyme, sequence familiar rhymes and lots more.

Spotless! KS1
1 hour

Dolly White is about to start her weekly wash and needs some helping hands. Using original possers and dolly pegs, rubbing boards and tubs, pupils are set to work for a taste of Victorian domestic life. As they move around the activities, pupils identify Dolly's Mystery Objects as well as various wash day smells.

Castle Life, KS1
1 hour, available from September 2010

Pupils explore different aspects of life in a medieval Castle and its role as a home, a defensive fortress, a place where merchants bought and sold goods, and where people worshipped God.

They try on medieval style armour and handle objects such as pottery, arrow heads and stained glass. They are also invited to identify various Castle smells!

 

World War II

Guess Who in World War Two: A Missing Person's Case, KS2
available until July 2010
1 hour

Pupils must become detectives to reveal the owners of four discarded suitcases in our World War 2 Lost Property Office. Through investigations of the contents and additional clues, pupils focus their analytical skills to identify, not only which of our characters each case belongs to, but also why they may have been in such a rush they forgot it.

Keep Calm and Carry on: The Home Front WWII, KS2
available from September 2010
1 hour

Pupils travel back to 29 April 1942, the day after York was bombed in World War Two, and meet Edward Bradley, an ARP warden, and his wife, Doris. With Mr Bradley, pupils test their stamina with a stirrup pump, safely dispose of an incendiary bomb and learn how to communicate effectively in times of crisis.

With Mrs Bradley they learn how to 'make do and mend', identify original wartime garments and plan a family menu based on the ration allowance, using real wartime recipes.

Britain since 1948

We're all going on a...1950s seaside holiday! KS1
Summer term only, 1 hour 30 minutes

Come and find out how grandma and granddad spent their childhood summers in our fun, seaside session. Children watch archive footage from the 1950s before preparing for our journey to the seaside through drama and craft activities. They complete a traditional post card, make a paper windmill, learn songs and explore a suitcase, before playing some beachfront games and building a sandcastle. All in all a grand day out!

The Swinging Sixties, KS2
1 hour 30 mins

Pupils visit our SIXTIES gallery and are plunged into the vibrant sights and sounds of 1960s Britain. They try on costumes, listen to music, furnish some dolls' houses and even 'launch' a space rocket. This session uses real artefacts and archive footage to set the decade in its post war context, giving pupils an appreciation of how much Britain had changed by the end of the 1960s.

Secondary School Workshops

Defence, Defiance and Duty at York Castle, KS3
Full day, 70 - 90 students, £5 per student

Travel back to the city of York in 1322. The rebellion by the the Northern Barons has failed and King Edward II's poor leadership and high taxes continue to cause unrest at all social levels. Investigate life within the castle walls for all its inhabitants and sample the sights, smells and tastes of medieval life, including original objects from the period.

This workshop was developed in partnership between English Heritage and York Museums Trust and involves a visit to Clifford's Tower opposite the museum - please note access is via steep steps only.

Rioting, Reasoning and Reform, KS3
6-week course, up to 35 students, £120 (for course on two campaigners, including 1.5 hour museum session) or £170 (for course on three campaigners, including 2-hour museum session).

This course has been developed in partnership with the British Libary's "Campaign! Make and Impact" project. During the taught museum session, the students can compare two or three historical campaigners. Choose from:

William Wilbeforce preaching the need to reform slavery laws in our Georgian Period Room, as he did a number of times to the people of the city from the Eye of York;
Elizabeth Fry pleading for prison reform in our cells, as she did when she saw the dire conditions in York Castle Prison in 1818;
Adela Pankhurst rousing the masses in Kirkgate to support women's right to vote.

In addition to the taught session, schools receive a model six-week scheme of work and extensive downloadable materials and resources.

History Around Us: The Development of Castles and Fortified Houses 1066-1400, KS4
6-week course, up to 75 students, £120 including two-hour museum visit

Students critically explore and examine the medieval history and purpose of York Castle and later interpretations of the site through primary and secondary sources and artefacts. In addition to the taught session, schools receive a model six-week scheme of work and supporting resources which support the questions:

1. Why was the site you have studied created?
2. Consider the interpretation of the site that you have been provided with. What evidence from the site supports or contradicts this interpretation?
3. How do other historical sources that you have used in your study help you to understand what you have seen at the site?

This course is geared towards the AQA GCSE Syllabus A.