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Programme Overview

An overview of our programmes for Schools.

Primary Outreach Days

Our Living History Team are now offering visits into schools to help teachers prepare their classes for a visit to Glastonbury Abbey. We offer themed days for Saxon, Norman and Tudor periods, focussing on the clothes, the food, the customs and the leisure pursuits of the chosen period.

Key Stage 1

• Brother Bear's Nature Trails - Seasonal exploration
• Very Special Places - The Abbey church

Key Stage 2

• Invaders and Settlers - Saxon History
• What King Henry VIII Did For Us - Tudor History
• Pilgrimage - Spirituality
• The Life of a Monk - Responses to God
• The Legends of Glastonbury - Literacy, myths and legends
• The Ecosystem of the Orchard - Science, Living things and habitats

Key Stage 3

• Medieval Realms - The Dissolution of the Abbey and The English Reformation
• Responses to Faith - Pilgrims & Spiritual Journeys
• Local Studies of the Somerset Levels

Practical Activity Sessions

These take place in the Visitor Centre fit in with the other programmes. Available for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3.

• Taking the Vow - Dress as a monk
• Medieval Hygiene - Make medieval toothpaste or Tudor pomanders
• Calligraphy - Try illuminating a manuscript
• Brass Rubbing - Make a rubbing from our collection

Come to the Abbey to study the Art and Architecture of the Abbey. Book a visit to St Patrick's Chapel to learn about the new murals, stained glass and hand made tiles. Use part of your visit for the class to draw their own responses to the ruins and the designs left by master craftsmen of a past age. Book the Inspired Art handling collections to be able to follow up this visit in your own school for the rest of the term.