Our Learning Team is looking forward to taking your booking so do get in touch to arrange your school trip and secure your session. Email us at learning@storymuseum.org.uk or call on 01865 790050.
We offer a range of tailored sessions from Nursery to Year 13, covering each Key Stage. Our sessions are designed to help your students develop spoken language, engage in collaborative, social play and discover our shared oral and literary cultural heritage. Curriculum links include:
"I want to live here!" - Student on a visit, November 2022
"Brought stories to life! You have made children who don't usually want to write, want to write!" - Teacher, June 2022
"Wednesday was our school visit to The Story Museum. It was the most magical and wonderful day. Our children had the best time and the Year 4 team left so inspired for our next term of learning. We have never taken a class of children to the Museum before but after their reactions yesterday I think you will become a regular fixture on our trip list. The session leader was absolutely brilliant and the children loved her. She kept them engaged all day, they were so motivated and their imaginations were set on fire." - Teacher, March 2023
A two-hour session exploring our Small Worlds gallery chosen from the selection below.
Suitable for: Nursery, EYFS & Year 1
Length of session: 2 hours
Session times: 10:00-12:00 or 12:30-14:30
Cost: £215+VAT per class of up to 32 students
An hour exploring The Story Museum's immersive Galleries, followed by an hour-long themed literacy session chosen from the selection below.
Suitable for: Years 1-13, depending on the chosen literacy session
Content of session: Gallery visit and literacy workshop
Length of session: 2 hours
Session times: 10:00-12:00 or 12:30-14:30
Cost: £215+VAT per class of up to 32 students
A story-themed walk through Oxford to see iconic places in the city that inspired its most famous fantasy writers. Choose your themed-walk from Alice, Narnia or a local history-based Wonderwalk (see below for details)
Suitable for: Years 2-13
Content of session: Outdoor walk around the city of Oxford
Length of session: 2 hours
Session times: 10:00-12:00 or 12:30-14:30
Cost: £215+VAT per class of up to 32 students
Click here to listen to a short Podcast of one of our Story Walks made by children on one of our skills courses
For only an extra £30 for your whole class, why not board our Story Craft for a short film flying through a thousand years of Oxford's story history - the perfect way to provide context for your visit.
Suitable for: Years 2-13
Content of session: additional film experience to option 2 or option 3 above
Length of session: 2 hours 30 minutes
Cost: £245+VAT per class of up to 32 students
Combine Option 2 (Gallery visit and literacy session) with Option 3 (City Story Walk)
Suitable for: Years 2-13
Content of session: Gallery visit, literacy session, City Story Walk
Length of session: 4 hours 30 minutes (including 30-minute lunch break)
Session times: 10:00-14:30
Cost: £315+VAT per class of up to 32 students
Combine Option 2 (Gallery visit and literacy session), with Option 3 (City Story walk) AND Option 4 (City of Stories film experience)
Suitable for: Years 2-13
Content of session: Gallery visit, literacy session, City Story Walk, City of Stories film experience
Length of session: 5 hours (including 30-minute lunch break)
Session times: 10:00-15:00
Cost: £345+VAT per class of up to 32 students
Students enter our Small Worlds gallery to explore the range of worlds and activities and choose their favourites. The session includes a mixture of structured oral storytime and songs as well as free play in the different environments, craft and messy play.
Outcome: A craft or learned song or story
Available from May 2024
Students enter our Small Worlds gallery for a story in our Elmer themed story-zone. Working in small groups they work together to create their own elephant character before taking their elephants on a parade around the space in celebration of all the things that make us unique.
Outcome: Developing positive attitudes, Verbal presentation and Communication skills.
Students enter our Small Worlds gallery for stories on our big bed and in our magical Night Safe. They create their own mini story landscapes and imagine the episodes that could unfold within their enchanting new world.
Outcome: speaking and listening presentation
Students will join in with participatory retellings of traditional folk and fairy tales, and learn to retell the story in groups. They will use the classic device of the Rule of 3 to create their own story.
Outcomes: speaking and listening presentation
Students are introduced to oral stories that star the classic character of the Trickster, such as Anansi the Spider and Reynard the Fox, before creating and retelling their own versions.
Outcomes: speaking and listening presentation, written draft if requested
Inspired by our exhibition, 'Here Be Dragons Co-curated by Cressida Cowell and Toothless', students will encounter dragons in oral stories from around the world, from the protective dragons of China to the fearsome foes of Europe. Students then devise a new dragon story, using drama and props to create the opening of a dragon quest.
Outcomes: speaking and listening presentation.
Students explore portals used in classic stories featured in the Enchanted Library, from the Rabbit Hole down into Wonderland to the Wardrobe through to Narnia. Students then create their own magical portal between two worlds, using a wealth of materials to stimulate the beginning of an enchanting story, including the beautiful mini worlds displayed in cabinets in the Magic Common Room.
Outcomes: speaking and listening presentation, written draft if requested
In this session, students will encounter the classic structure of the Quest story, and explore maps and plans found in many popular children’s stories such as J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, C. S. Lewis' Narnia and A. A. Milne's Hundred Acre Wood. Students will be transported into different fantasy worlds before creating their own maps to support story writing.
Outcomes: speaking and listening presentation, written draft if requested
Students listen and join in with traditional oral stories from around
the world and then create their own version using the key elements of
story - character, setting, theme and plot structure.
Outcomes: speaking and listening presentation, written draft if requested
The Story Museum's evocative settings provide the perfect environment to give your students' writing experience a lift. Guided by our Learning Team, made up of experienced primary and secondary teachers, your students will explore the Museum's story-based environments with a view to inspiring new pieces of writing with a focus on vocabulary and metaphorical language.
Outcomes: writing draft
A revitalising approach to your own class set text. The students will
explore The Story Museum's curation process and then design an
immersive narrative environment based on close reading and analysis. Please let us know in advance the text you would like us to base the session on; if you have no preference, we will use The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Past bespoke sessions have included Betsy Byars' The Midnight Fox, Michelle Magorian's Goodnight Mr Tom, James Dashner's The Maze Runner, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Outcomes: speaking and listening presentation; illustrated and annotated design using quotations
Investigate story objects in this in-depth workshop. Using treasures linked to our 1001 Story Collection, students will be inspired to create their own stories. Students leave with the opening passage of a piece of fiction to develop back in the classroom.
Outcomes: written opening to a narrative piece
Expand students’ narrative writing repertoire by analysing historical and fictional witches. Listen to oral stories, debate and discuss the portrayal of witches through time and explore the fate of women accused of witchcraft. Students leave with a specialised plan to build on back in the classroom.
Outcomes: specialised writing plan
This session is a basic, 1 hour introduction to oral storytelling techniques, using theories from ancient, modern and contemporary storytellers.
Please note that this session is for further education institutions only, such as teacher training colleges and universities. If you are a school or institution looking for in-service, continuing professional development training for your staff members, please click here for details of our CPD and adult training sessions.
Come on a walk through the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. We'll begin at The Story Museum, then walk along to Christ Church Meadow, the location of many sites that inspired Lewis Carroll. As your Story Leader retells the story, we'll have a Caucus Race, a Caterpillar Contest, a Game of Red Queen Says and fun with riddles and charades along the way.
Come on a walk through the story of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with our Story Leader. We'll begin at The Story Museum and follow the lampposts towards the grounds of Oxford Castle - the perfect setting for a re-telling of the dramatic events at the White Witch's palace.
From the Narnia lamppost and Alice’s gate to the spires and rooftops of Oxford... the Wonder Walk route features stunning locations including the Radcliffe Camera and Christ Church, with a few dragons along the way! The walk features authors past and present who have been inspired by Oxford in some way: Kieran Millwood Hargrave (The Girl of Ink and Stars), C. S. Lewis (the Narnia series), J. R. R. Tolkien (The Hobbit), Lewis Carroll (Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland), Philip Pullman (Northern Lights trilogy), Katherine Rundell (Rooftoppers) and Patience Agbabi (The Infinite).
During the walk your students will learn key facts about the writers’ lives and how simply observing the world can lead to ideas for classic fiction. Your students will also play the stories through a variety of multi-sensory games and storytelling.
If you have any other questions, please contact the Learning Team who will be happy to help - learning@storymuseum.org.uk