There are many reasons to bring your students to the Royal Institution, and to discover together the key role that the RI has played in the development of the modern world. Our most popular activity is our programme of exciting events for schools. These free events aim to enthuse and excite young people about science. The events are jam-packed with experiments, demonstrations, and the odd explosion! Our lecturers are internationally recognised scientists and science communicators who are brimming over with passion for science and talented in communicating cutting-edge science to young people. To see what we've got coming up, please visit our education events calendar. In association with Promethean we can now offer enhanced learning opportunities with the Activote learning response system, which may be used during events for schools. These fun, interactive hand-held devices encourage whole audience participation and enable each pupil to share their thoughts with the whole theatre.
You'll find that we run events for key stages 2, 3, 4 and post 16 students, and cover a wide range of scientific topics. Most of our events last one hour, and you can attend either the morning or afternoon session. Some of our events last a half day or full day, but these are clearly indicated. If you are coming to a hour-long event, you may like to extend your visit for a whole day by touring our museum.
Our museum can also offer fascinating insights to school groups, and the themes of the exhibition particularly support concepts of ‘how science works'. The displays cover the history of the Royal Institution and some of the important discoveries and inventions that were made here. They look at the men and women of science that have worked in our laboratories, their successes and frustrations. By using the real-life examples of people that have worked here, we cover hard-to-teach curriculum themes of: life as a scientist; the realities, excitement and frustrations of working as a scientist; the process of science. As our building has hosted science research laboratories for over 200 years (including some of the world's first purpose built research laboratories) we can also help show how ideas about science have changed in the last 200 years, and reinforce concepts in history and citizenship.
When visiting the museum, we recommend that school groups take advantage of our eGuide. This is a multimedia guide using handheld PDA technology to tell the stories of the RI in an entertaining and accessible way. This is available free of charge to school groups, and have themed tours available that help tailor RI exhibition content to topics that you are covering in school at the time of your visit. The themes of the tours available are:
- History of the RI (primary and secondary)
- How science works (primary and secondary)
- Communicating science (secondary only)
- Electricity and the electromagnetic spectrum (secondary only)
- Climate change, the planet and weather (secondary only)
- Elements and molecules (secondary only)
We can accommodate a maximum of 50 students at a time, and recommend that 30 minutes to an hour is suitable for a visit. If you would like to book your group on a tour, they are available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. You can come either as a standalone visit, or in conjunction with an event for schools. For more information, or to book, please call 020 7409 2992 or email schools@ri.ac.uk
Lunches
Catering for school groups can be arranged in the Time and Space cafe, where childrens' lunch packs are available for £4.50.
We have very limited space available for students to eat packed lunches (which cannot be eaten anywhere else in the building). This room must be booked ahead of your visit if you wish to use it. Please call on 020 7409 2992 if you would like to reserve this room.
Useful information
If you are planning a visit to us you may find our guide to helpnig you perform your own risk assesment and parking near the RI for schools documents useful.
Risk Assessment
Parking near the Royal Institution for School groups