School Trips to York & the Yorkshire Coast

York Minster & Education Centre

This cathedral was built on what was the headquarters of a Roman fortress and is now seen as the jewel in the historical crown of York. With guided tours, educational workshops and trails around the cathedral, York Minster covers a range of KS2 subjects.

Revealing York Minster in the Undercroft -  within the underground chambers of York Minster, is a new dynamic audio-visual and interactive experience where you can walk in the footsteps of Roman soldiers, discover dramatic events and more!

York’s Chocolate Story

Take your class on a fascinating, fully-guided tour and discover how chocolate made history in York. Explore the origins of cocoa, find out how to taste chocolate like an expert, have a go at our hands-on chocolate making station and enjoy live Chocolatier demonstrations. Pupils can also uncover a host of surprising secrets and fascinating facts behind York’s greatest chocolate products, from the Chocolate Orange to the world-famous KitKat.Curriculum linked workshops are also available. 

York Ghost Walk 

This York ghost walk will take your pupils on an exciting tour of all the famous and infamous haunted sites throughout the ancient City. Your specialist guide will help you discover the secrets of York’s dark cobbled streets.

York Dungeon

Explore 2000 years of York’s history, brought to life at York Dungeon. Your pupils will meet famous gruesome characters such as Dick Turpin, Guy Fawkes and Viking King, Eric Bloodaxe. You can also enjoy the York Dungeon City Tour and take your history lesson out onto the streets of York, led by a costumed guide.

Not recommended for children under 10 years of age.

DIG

The ultimate archaeological adventure! Learn how archaeologists use clues to piece together 2000 years of York’s past, unearth real artefacts and analyse your findings, using genuine archaeologist’s methods. DIG offers schools the chance to enrich their experience with a series of themed workshops, including ‘Secrets in the Soil’, ‘Burials & Beliefs’, ‘People, Place & the Past: Changing Urban Landscapes’ and ‘Improving Living Conditions’.

Jorvik Viking Centre

The Jorvik Viking Centre holds the preserved remains of houses, workshops and backyards of the Vikings from 1,000 years ago. Now reconstructed, this centre enables your pupils to experience life in Viking-Age York. Your pupils will encounter the old Norse speaking citizens, see inside their houses and back yards, experience a blast of smoke from blacksmith’s furnace and enjoy the smell of home-cooked stews.

York Castle Museum

Home to the world-famous recreated Victorian street, Kirkgate, and the York Castle Prison Experience, here your pupils will learn how people have lived over the past 300 years. The Education Department also offers a variety of workshops for KS2 / P4-7 including ‘The Victorian Classroom’, ‘York Prison’ and ‘Castle Life’.

National Railway Museum

The National Railway Museum in York is home to over 300 years of history and over a million wonderful objects. Your pupils can marvel at iconic locomotives, watch engineering work in progress in the Workshop, browse object-filled Warehouse, and let off steam in the outdoor play area.

Eureka!

Eureka! offers hundreds of interactive, hands-on exhibits designed to inspire pupils to learn about themselves and the world around them through play and discovery. 

Flamingo Land Theme park & Zoo

The Flamingo Land theme park offers seven unique themed areas. Journey through The Lost Kingdom’s vast African plains, the clear blue skies of Swoosh! and the wet and wacky world of Splosh! and you’ll discover a theme park that has something for all ages to enjoy. Alternatively, you can add a whole new dimension to your viewing pleasure by joining Happy Feet’s Mumble and friends in Flamingo Land’s 4D Cinema. 

A captivating programme of regular free shows, including the breath-taking acrobatic skills of Bongo Warriors, guarantees that the fun never stops too. Excitement and adventure for younger guests is also assured by a fantastic collection of junior coasters, carousels and fun slides, plus indoor and outdoor soft play areas. At the opposite end of the scale, if you’re looking for adrenaline-fuelled thrills, then eight extreme rides are waiting just for you, including the record-breaking Mumbo Jumbo, featuring the world’s steepest drop!

For something a little different, the zoo & conservation area is anything but tame! Away from the thrills of the sensational theme park, you’ll quickly discover what makes this the UK’s most visited zoo. With tigers from the frozen wastelands of Siberia, giraffes from sub-Saharan Africa, Penguin Coast, the amazing new penguin pool, and all the kids’ favourites in the Muddy Duck Farm collection, you can enjoy a truly amazing view of the animal kingdom in the heart of North Yorkshire. What’s more, with regular handling sessions and talks by zoo keepers, there’s sure to be something that’ll capture their imagination.

Tour planning service

With NST, you’ll get your own dedicated, knowledgeable Tour Co-ordinator who’ll work with you from start to finish. You’ll benefit from their unrivalled destination knowledge, and their experience gained from working with many other groups too. They’ll tailor-make your itinerary from scratch and take care of everything for you:

• Pulling together an itinerary that runs smoothly
• Planning the right balance of visits every day with realistic timings
• Pre-arranging and pre-booking your visits, entrance tickets, passes and meals

You’ll receive your final itinerary a full 4-weeks before you travel too.

FREE school trip promotion pack

We’ll support you and provide everything you need to advertise your school trip around school and to parents. Our free school trip promotion pack consists of:

• Parents’ letter & permission slip template for you to complete
• A3 posters to promote your trip around school
• PowerPoint presentation templates which you can tailor to your own needs
• Parents’ leaflets covering how NST manage safety, financial protection and details of our travel insurance
• Online parents’ video which showcases the benefits of taking a school trip

For selected destinations, we’ll provide a trip launch web page using video footage and imagery. This web page is provided by a weblink and can be shared with pupils and parents in many ways.

Risk assessment support including preview visits

Risk assessment plays a vitally important part in the planning and organisation on any school tour.

Our risk assessment guide aims to help you understand more about your obligations and how you can more effectively manage group safety on your next educational visit and provide you with risk assessments for your trip.

Planning first school trip

Organising your first school trip can appear to be a daunting process.  If you're planning your first school trip, our guide will help to take you through each step of the planning process, answering frequently asked questions and providing tips and support along the way.  Our helpful guide covers the following: 

• Choosing your destination 
• Gaining approval from your Local Authority and/or your Head 
• Promoting your tour in school 
• Confirming your booking
• Tailor-make your tour
• Completing your risk assessments (including a sample risk assessment) 
• Quick reference timeline 
• Pre-tour checklist 

View our essential guide to a successful school trip here

Get live updates on your group's tour location

Locate My Trip uses GPS technology and is the easy, convenient way for your school to follow your location whilst on tour. Specifically designed to provide reassurance to both parents and teachers, NST will know where your group are 24/7. If your schedule needs to change, we’ll put plans in place to keep your tour on track. 

With Locate My Trip your group can also share photos and videos with the school and parents, via a secure link, to keep them updated on your experience whilst you’re away.

Watch our short Locate My Trip video here.

Your online school trip organiser - My Tour Manager

Save time and stay on track with your school trip admin with our online orgnaniser - designed to help busy teachers like you. 

With My Tour Manager, you'll be able to download FREE resources and access trip paperwork online and in one place. Your personalised checklist details what you need to do and by when, plus you'll receive fortnightly reminders too. 

What's more, you can take all your trip documents on the go whilst on your tour with our app, My Tour Manager-On-the-Go. 

Find out more and watch out short My Tour Manager video here

Free classroom resources

We've created a range of free resources and educational posters to brighten up your classroom! 

Take a look at our downloadable posters here