There is so much to take in onUK study tours of major cities like London and Manchester that it can be hard for teachers to choose which sites to include. The fully immersive interactive exhibits and carefully crafted and imaginative school experiences offered by the Imperial War Museums make them a must for groups visiting either city.
Imperial War Museum London
However you choose to experience the IWM London, from guiding the class yourself,to joining a tour ortaking part one of the immersive learning opportunities, the museum has a wealth of resources at students’ disposal. A range of fascinating temporary exhibits join permanent fixtures like the Curiosities of War, Secret War, The Holocaust Exhibition, and A Family in Wartime.
Learning Sessions For Schools
The IWM London holds a range of learning sessions arranged for school groups, which concentrate on curriculum subjects and key learning objectives, including:
•Meet An Evacuee (Key Stage 2)
Give your pupils a unique insight into the reality of childhood in the Second World War during a question and answer session with a genuine evacuee. Your group will have the chance to think about issues around evacuation and then put their questions to someone who lived through the experience.
•Documentary Challenge (Key Stage 3)
Encourage your students to really interact with the exhibits in this documentary filmmaking challenge. Pupils are given a camera and a brief, which involves revealing hidden stories and creating a narrative from a selection of galleries.
Imperial War Museum North
Set in a fantastic modern exhibition space on The Quays in Manchester, the IWM North makes a great focal point for UK study tours in the North of England. Highlighting the realities of conflict spanning more than 100 years, the museum offers interactive resources for teachers looking at history, politics and English, as well as a range of other subjects. Permanent displays include the Main Exhibition Space – with its exploration of personal stories, the science of war, and how technology has transformed conflicts – and the Big Picture Show, with its images projected on the 27-foot walls.
Learning Sessions For Schools
IWM North offers its young visitors the opportunity to interact with the history of conflict in a way that brings their experience of history off the page and into their imagination. There is a range of sessions, including:
•We Were There: Ask Questions About Conflict (Key Stage)
Your class will have the opportunity to meet veterans and eyewitnesses of some of the major conflicts of modern UK history and ask them what it was like to be there. The question and answer sessions will help your pupils imagine what it would be like to live in a conflict zone, providing a much wider perspective to their understanding of history.
•Ministry of Memory (Key Stage)
This wonderful educational session asks your pupils to imagine that all records of Remembrance have disappeared! The students are asked to go around the museum collecting evidence of Remembrance rituals and personal stories in their interactive audio packs, in order to replace them.
Whether you plan onvisiting the north or the south of the country, the Imperial War Museums are a highlighton the itinerary of manyUK study tours. In order to ensure your class sees the most relevant exhibits and makes the very most of the experience, get in touch with aspecialist educational travel operator to take the stress out of organising the trip.
John Gardiner is the Managing Director of The School Travel Company, a tour operator specialising in educational travel for school and youth groups. Whether you’re planning UK study tours, Iceland geography trips or trekking expeditions to India, you can trust both the educational and economic value of their itineraries, whether ready-made or specifically designed to suit the needs of your group.
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