Virtual classrooms
Our team of experienced Learning Officers can join you online in your classroom to bring the Abbey to life even if you cannot visit. We offer a range of formats: interactive sessions, costumed characters and guided virtual tours, tailored to your needs, interests and the age of your class.
Interactive sessions
Our Learning Officers will guide your students through an engaging, interactive session, to learn more about the Abbey as a place where faith lives and history happens. All from the comfort of your classroom.
The coronation of kings and queens has taken place at Westminster Abbey since 1066. What lies at the heart of this ancient ceremony and its rituals? Have coronations always gone to plan? What does it feel like to witness this historic event? Pull up a chair and hear tales of sleepy kings, stealthy picnics and one naughty cat in this behind the scenes guide to the Coronation.
Links: History, British Values
Suitable for: KS1, 2
Duration: Flexible but typically 60 minutes
Cost: £48 per class for UK schools
Edward the Confessor's death sparked one of the most momentous episodes in British History; the Norman Conquest. Edward's reign is seen as the end of Anglo-Saxon rule in England but was it in fact the beginning of Norman rule? Weigh up the evidence for yourself, examine Edward's shrine and see if you can discover more about the man behind the myth.
Links: History, RE
Suitable for: KS2
Duration: Flexible but typically 60 minutes
Cost: £48 per class for UK schools
Life at Westminster Abbey changed forever on the 16th January 1540. Find out about the community of monks who lived here until early Tudor times and discover the impact of Henry VIII’s Reformation on this great church using rarely seen objects from our museum.
Links: History
Suitable for: KS2
Duration: Flexible but typically 60 minutes
Cost: £48 per class for UK schools
Visiting a church can be overwhelming - there is so much to look at, listen to and try to understand. What are the key Christian beliefs and how are they represented in churches like Westminster Abbey? Learn about Christian faith and worship through the sights, sounds and symbols in the Abbey.
Links: RE
Suitable for: KS1, 2
Duration: Flexible but typically 60 minutes
Cost: £48 per class for UK schools
The Grave of the Unknown Warrior is one of the most important places in the Abbey. Learn about the fascinating story of how and why he came to be buried here, and consider why it is important that we remember those who sacrificed their lives in war.
Links: RE
Suitable for: KS1, 2
Duration: Flexible but typically 60 minutes
Cost: £48 per class for UK schools
Costumed Video Conferences
Meet characters from Westminster Abbey’s past as your students travel back in time to explore 1,000 years of British history with the people who were there.
David Railton was the First World War priest who was struck by the idea of bringing a fallen soldier to be buried at the Abbey. Meet him as he talks about his experience in World War I, and how his vision came into reality. Find out about the grave that holds the body of an ordinary soldier from the First World War; a soldier whose story is shrouded in mystery. Was he a conscript or a volunteer? From Britain or somewhere else in the Empire? How did he die? What of his family back home? And how did he come to be at the Abbey, buried amongst the kings?
Links: History, RE
Suitable for: KS2
Duration: Flexible but typically 60 minutes
Cost: £48 per class for UK schools
For much of its 1,000-year history, Westminster Abbey has been a place of pilgrimage. As part of the Benedictine tradition of hospitality, the Abbey’s monks welcomed and cared for pilgrims, many of whom had travelled hundreds of miles to worship at the Shrine of St Edward.
Make your own pilgrimage to Westminster Abbey and meet the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, Clerk of the King’s Works at the Palace of Westminster. Hear tales of medieval life in London and discover why pilgrimage is still so important to people around the world.
Links: History, RE
Suitable for: KS2
Duration: Flexible but typically 60 minutes
Cost: £48 per class for UK schools
It is 1st January 1066 and King Edward the Confessor lies upon his deathbed. Harold Godwinson, perhaps the most powerful man in the kingdom, ponders the fate of Anglo-Saxon England as no one knows who will next take the throne.
But one thing is certain; there is a long list of claimants. Can your pupils help Harold choose the next ruler of England? And could their choice signal the end of an era – the time of the Anglo-Saxons?
Links: History, RE
Suitable for: KS2
Duration: Flexible but typically 60 minutes
Cost: £48 per class for UK schools
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