The Victorians

Standard / non-member rates

For groups of 15 or more children
2-hour experience – £8.02 per child

For groups of fewer than 15 children
2-hour experience – £120.30 per group

Magical Museums member rates (2024-25 academic year)

For groups of 15 or more children
2-hour experience – £4.36 per child*

For groups of fewer than 15 children
2-hour experience – £65.40 per group

*If available, your member school's free hours will be used first.

Magical Museums member rates (2025-26 academic year)

For groups of 15 or more children
2-hour experience – £4.52 per child*

For groups of fewer than 15 children
2-hour experience – £67.80 per group

*If available, your member school's free hours will be used first.

Please note: SEND groups are charged at our Standard per-child rate.

What to expect from your Experience Day

What was school like for Victorian children, and what was life like in the home? We will transport your pupils back to the Victorian times where they will come face-to-face with a Victorian teacher and take part in some traditional learning activities, Victorian style! This multifaceted session also features dressing up and object handling relating to Victorian home life in the Story of Hull gallery.

The led session includes:

• Introduction to the site and setting the scene to the session and historical period
• This session is delivered in character, beginning with a Victorian school teacher. The children will also be provided with items of costume to wear to help them get into role.
• Victorian schoolroom experience – sit at original desks and take part in a typical Victorian lesson
• Object handling activity focussing on Victorian home life – handle original Victorian artefacts relating to the roles of specific servants at the time and gain a deeper understanding of homelife at the time through the Story of Hulls and Its People Gallery displays. 
• Plenary and evaluation

Group size

We can accommodate up to two groups from your school per available date – with a maximum of 35 pupils per group. If you’d like to bring more than two groups (70 pupils), please book additional days.

Timings

We deliver sessions from 10am–12pm for the first group, and 12.30–2.30pm for the second group. If you’re bringing two groups to/from the museum at the same time, we strongly recommend you book in self-directed time (you can find out more about this below!)

Please note: Hands on History Museum is closed to the public, so we can only support one group at a time. If you're bringing two groups, your second group will be booked into the Streetlife Museum (approximately 10-minute walk away) for any self-directed time.

Make a full day of your visit

When making your booking through Eventbrite, you’ll be asked if you want to book a space for lunch and self-directed time, too.

Self-directed time is essentially a booking to explore the museum in a large group. You need to book it in so we know we can accommodate your class alongside other visitors. It does not include any activities led by museum staff – so please plan your time accordingly.

Please note: Hands on History Museum  isclosed to the public, so we can only support one group at a time. If you're bringing two groups, your second group will be booked into the Streetlife Museum (approximately 10-minute walk away) for any self-directed time.

Lunches
If you’re bringing one group, they will stay on site at the Hands on History Museum to eat lunch before departing. If you’re bringing two groups, lunches will be staggered at the Streetlife Museum.

Pre-visit info

To make the most of your visit, make sure you download and read the following documents. These include detailed information on what to expect from the day. For example: timings, locations, T&Cs and risk assessment.

A link for these will also be included on your confirmation email and ticket.

We also have the following resources and documents available to help with your visit planning if you are carrying out self-directed time at Streetlife Museum:

Book the Victorian Experience Day for your school

We are currently using Eventbrite for bookings while we move over to a new system. Any reference to FREE on the Eventbrite system relates only to not being charged at the point of booking. These sessions are NOT free – all schools will be invoiced following your visit based on the booking details you provide. Prices are listed above.

Cancellation policy

If you accept this visit but are unable to attend, please cancel your visit via Eventbrite by logging into your account and cancelling your booked ticket. We ask that where possible, this is done within 4 weeks (28 days) of the visit as another school may be able to book the slot.

Cancellations will be charged on a sliding scale:

• If you fail to cancel your visit and do not attend your booked visit, you will be charged 100% of the full workshop fee.
• Cancellations within one week (7 days) of the workshop date will be charged 50% cost of the full workshop fee.
• Cancellations within two weeks (14 days) of the workshop date will be charged 25% cost of the workshop fee unless the workshop is rescheduled.
• If you reschedule your workshop within two weeks (14 days) of the original delivery date to another day within the same term, then you will incur an additional charge of £50 on top of your new booking fee to cover administrative costs.

If you need to reschedule your booking, please feel free to visit Eventbrite to check alternative availability, or please email museums@hcandl.co.uk. You can make changes to your booking by logging into your Eventbrite account.

If we (Hull Museums & Gallery) have to cancel your visit due to unforeseen circumstances, your school won’t be charged.