We offer a range of tailored sessions from Nursery to Year 13, covering each Key Stage. With an emphasis on oral storytelling, 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:
And at a time when stories are more important than ever, we’ve refreshed our sessions in line with the philosophy of Barry Carpenter’s Recovery Curriculum.
“Thank you so much for the excellent visits for all our year groups. They were engaged and excited by the galleries and workshops. When telling me about it, the children listed all aspects of the trip as their ‘best bit’. You really have got the formula just right.” - Teacher on a school visit, January 2022
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: £175+VAT per class of up to 35 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: £175+VAT per class of up to 35 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: £175+VAT per class of up to 35 students
For only an extra £20 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: £195+VAT per class of up to 35 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: £275+VAT per class of up to 35 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: 09:30-14:30 or 10:00-15:00
Cost: £295+VAT per class of up to 35 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
Students enter our Small Worlds gallery for stories on our big bed. 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
To celebrate this year’s Year of the Tiger. This session features tigers in stories from a variety of cultures from around the world, including Tiger and Fox from China, Mouse Deer and Tiger from Malaysia, and The Tiger and the Brahmin from India. Then your students will create their own tale in which a tiger is tricked – or, maybe, becomes a hero!
Outcome: Speaking and listening presentation, written draft if requested.
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 hidden in the mysterious cabinets in the Magic Common Room.
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
For a limited time only, we are offering sessions responding to our temporary exhibition based on The Book of Hopes, edited by Katherine Rundell (2020), created to offer hope and comfort during lockdown. The students will take part in games and group performances based on stories from the book, including the Song of Gladness by Michael Morpurgo and Hope Hunter by Joseph Coelho. Students then make their own poem exploring themes of hope, self-esteem and resilience.
Outcomes: speaking and listening presentation, written poem
The Story Museum's evocative settings provide the perfect space 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: speaking and listening presentation, 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.
Past bespoke sessions have included C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Betsy Byars' The Midnight Fox, Michelle Magorian's Goodnight Mr Tom, R.L. Stevenson's Treasure Island, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Outcomes: speaking and listening presentation; illustrated and annotated design using quotations
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! Choose three authors from 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) and Katherine Rundell (Rooftoppers).
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