School Visits
Choose Amberley Museum to get up close and personal with our shared past.
With over thirty exhibition areas and a choice of high-quality, engaging workshops, we’ve got the sights, sounds, smells and tactile experiences to help your students connect with local history and STEM.
Give them space to grow.
Our 36-acre, mostly outdoor site is a rewilded quarry waiting to be safely explored by narrow-gauge railway, foot or on our unpaved nature trails – perfect for learning and chilling, alike.
Friendly support from pre to post-visit.
We pride ourselves in providing a helpful and efficient service that takes into account your group’s specific needs. On site, our dedicated learning facilitators work alongside exhibit-based volunteers with years of experience in their respective fields: no question is too big or small!
Bookings
We accept school bookings from Wednesday to Friday, with total pupil capacity depending on the workshop booked. Please check the listings below for further information.
All visits include:
- Welcome and orientation from our learning facilitators
- Dedicated lunch and bag storage / quiet space
- Access to all exhibition areas and nature trails
- Option to visit the shop or pre-order goody bags
- FREE car/coach parking
- Pre-visit service (advised for teachers new to the site)
Most of our site is accessible to those with limited mobility, with the exception of our bus fleet, nature trails, the Billingshurst Signal Box and some viewing platforms.
Top tips for lowering the cost of your visit:
Travel by Train
Amberley Museum is just steps away from Amberley train station, with twice-hourly services to the north and south. Book your group tickets through Southern Rail.
Apply for our School Visit Grant: If your school is located within 45 minutes’ travel time of the museum by road or rail, hasn’t visited us since 2023 and has over 10% pupil eligibility for Free School Meals, you could receive a 25-50% reduction to the cost of your trip to Amberley Museum! Find out more about the School Visit Grant.
Explore support from South Downs National Park Authority: At points through the year, SDNPA offers grants to cover your travel and admission to Amberley Museum. Check their website for their current offer.
For prices and help planning you trip, visit our booking page.
WORKSHOPS
Get the most out of your visit by reserving a hands-on, curriculum-linked workshop experience, led by our enthusiastic facilitators.
Workshops last half a day (1 hour 15 minutes), for a maximum of 32 children.
Journeys – up to three classes per day
Get up close to trains, buses, bicycles, cars and carts and hear about how people used to travel in the early 20th century.
Build a wooden wheel, clip your tickets then put on your travelling hats for a vintage bus ride.
EYFS:
- Understanding the World
- Mathematics
- PSE
- Expressive Arts
KS1:
- History
- D&T
- Science
Communication Nation – up to three classes per day
Experience the challenges of communicating across long distances before the modern era and the thrill of early communications technologies.
Write and send a telegram, see a replica of one of Alexander Graham Bell’s earliest experimental telephones, work together to send and unscramble messages in flag semaphore and Morse Code.
Lower KS2:
- History: British history beyond 1066
- D&T: Impact of D&T on daily life
- English: Composition
- Maths: Addition
Electric Dreams – up to two classes per day
Explore the Electricity Hall through the eyes of two groundbreaking, Sussex-based engineers – Caroline Haslett and Magnus Volk – including domestic appliances through time and early electric cars and bikes.
Marvel at high-voltage electrical demonstrations, handle real museum objects, try out numerous electrical experiments.
Upper KS2
- Science: Electricity
- History: British history beyond 1066
- D&T: Impact of D&T on daily life
Life & Lime – up to two classes per day
Discover the hidden history of Amberley Museum and daily life as a worker in an industrial chalk pits at the turn of the 20th century.
Investigate how the pits changed over time, using photographs, artefacts, maps and oral histories.
Upper KS2
- History: British history beyond 1066; Local history study
- D&T: Key events that have shaped the world
- Geography: Place knowledge
Lower KS3
- History: Industry in Britain (1745-1901); Challenges for Britain (1901-); Local history study
- D&T: Impact of D&T on society and environment
- Geography: Map reading; Natural resource use
Testimonials
Our Year 8s seemed so happy whilst they were waving from the top deck of the 1920s Southdown Motor Services bus. Some of them commented that it was great to be at a museum where you could actually interact with the exhibits.
The fact that they could touch certain things in the museum was really great. The volunteers you had were also brilliant, their wealth of knowledge and expertise made it a very real experience for the children.
It was just the perfect visit! The children were thoroughly involved in the workshops and were able to talk extensively about what they had seen and enjoyed.
I just wish we could have spent longer at the museum as there is so much to see and do!
