Windsor Castle learning sessions for Royal Borough schools
Windsor Castle brings 1,000 years of history directly into classrooms:
In 2024, Royal Collection Trust will offer an expanded programme of outreach and virtual school learning sessions, inviting schools from around the UK and beyond to bring Windsor Castle into the classroom through in-person and online school sessions.
These sessions aim to bring the rich history of Windsor Castle to life for children within their own school, making the official royal residence accessible to as wide an audience as possible by removing some of the barriers faced by teachers when arranging on-site visits.
Sessions are available on subjects ranging from the history of knights to the story of the oldest inhabited castle in the world and exploring Queen Victoria’s life at the Castle. All sessions can be tailored for diverse age groups across Early Years, primary and secondary schools as well as to fit with the curricular aims of each school.
In outreach sessions, Royal Collection Trust’s Learning Officers travel to schools in and around the Windsor area, including Slough, Maidenhead and Staines, to deliver fun and interactive sessions in the classroom about Windsor Castle’s history and its use as an official residence by the Royal Family. The team bring along exciting artefacts, replica regalia and armour and encourage role play, dressing up, storytelling and discussion.
In virtual sessions, Learning Officers bring the interactive workshops offered at Windsor Castle directly to a classroom via any video conferencing application. The virtual workshops can be for individual classes or whole school assemblies, giving students a unique insight into Windsor Castle and the people who have lived there over nearly 1,000 years. These sessions are available to schools all over the country and around the world, where distance or cost of travel could usually be a barrier to an on-site school trip.
In-person visits to Windsor Castle will continue to be available throughout the year, ranging from Early Years storytelling sessions to A-Level workshops allowing students to sketch while viewing Leonardo da Vinci’s original drawings. School sessions are available throughout the week, with the option to visit on a day when the Castle is otherwise closed to the public, giving schools exclusive access to the magnificent State Rooms and Learning Centre for a truly memorable educational experience. A travel subsidy scheme and access scheme are available to ensure that visits are possible for schools working with children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Bookings for in-person school visits for the academic year 2024-2025 open after the Easter break.
Gordon Ferguson, Learning Manager, Royal Collection Trust, said, “These sessions are a wonderful opportunity to bring Windsor Castle and the Royal Collection to a wider and more diverse audience. Through our outreach sessions it has been so rewarding to connect with more schools in the local area and reach children who may never have visited the Castle before, and the online sessions have allowed us to reach schools all over the country and around the world, even as far as Canada and Brazil.”
Throughout the year, Royal Collection Trust hosts educational visits at the official residences of His Majesty The King in London, Windsor and Edinburgh, at the Royal Mews and at The King’s Galleries, with free schools resources also available online.
In the year 2022–23, approximately 40,000 school pupils made visits to these sites or attended online sessions. Royal Collection Trust also works with a range of community organisations to make the Royal Residences, Mews and Galleries accessible to as many people as possible.
COSTS:
Outreach sessions are available for £150 per session, plus travel costs incurred by Royal Collection Trust staff, and £50 per additional session on the same day.
Virtual sessions are available for £70 per class attending a booked session.
In-person prices for pre-booked school groups are £6 per pupil and free for children in reception or below. In-person visit bookings for the academic year 2024-25 open after the Easter break. * (Prices correct as April 2024).
Royal Collection Trust: department of the Royal Household, is responsible for the care of the Royal Collection and manages the public opening of the official residences of The King. Income generated from admissions and from associated commercial activities contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aims of The Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational programmes.
The Royal Collection: is among the largest and most important art collections in the world, and one of the last great European royal collections to remain intact. It comprises almost all aspects of the fine and decorative arts, and is spread among some 15 royal residences and former residences across the UK, most of which are regularly open to the public. The Royal Collection is held in trust by the Sovereign for his successors and the nation, and is not owned by The King as a private individual.
Admission to Windsor Castle is managed by The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity in England and Wales (1016972) and in Scotland (SCO39772).