Pre-Visit Information for Verulamium Museum

Pre-Visit Information for Teachers

Things to know before your school visit

• Schools must have the correct adult to pupil ratios when visiting the museum: KS1 and KS2: 1:8, KS3 and KS4: 1:10, Sixth Form: 1:15. These ratios must not include adults accompanying children who need 1:1 support.
• There is a Council controlled car park next to Verulamium Museum. Verulamium Museum cannot reserve spaces nor take payments for coach parking. There are two Coach bays in the car park. Coach parking is payable by coins or card at the machine; please check the council website for latest details and charges for Verulamium Surface Car Park.
• Please arrive at least 10 minutes before the start of your workshop to allow you time to drop bags, use facilities and receive a welcome from the front of house team. We often have several schools visiting on the same day, so any lateness may mean we need to reduce the length of your workshop.
• One of the sections of the gallery, “Death and Burial”, includes real human skeletons and several cremation pots filled with human remains. This display is clearly marked and can easily be avoided without cutting you off from any other sections of the museum, so feel free to avoid that section if you have concerns about whether this is suitable for your pupils.
• We recommend visiting the hypocaust building and city walls in Verulamium park during your outside time, or before/after your visit depending on the timetable provided.
• Our gift shop provides plenty of shopping opportunities for all price ranges, with lots of ‘pocket money’ items and souvenirs. We also provide gift bags but these must be ordered at least 2 weeks before your visit. 

Trails

We provide two trails, Discovering Verulamium & Tessa's Top Ten, both of which are available to pick up from the museum. You can also download one of our trails to help you explore by using the links below.

Discovering Verulamium is best printed back to back on A3 paper and flipped on the short edge. You can then fold it over length-ways before folding it into an 'accordion' style fold, into eight sections, following the coloured blocks on the trail. On the back is a map of Verulamium Park that you can use to explore at a later date.

• Discovering Roman Verulamium

Tessa's Top Ten is best printed back to back on A4 paper and flipped on the short edge. You can then fold it three ways into a 'concertina' fold, following the lines on the trail.

• Tessas Top Ten

KS3 + 4 - Digital Audio Trail

We now offer a free digital audio trail for KS3-5 to complete during their gallery time. 

Our free KS3–5 audio guide has been designed specifically for secondary school groups to support independent, student-led exploration of the Verulamium galleries. Rather than following a single fixed route, students can choose between different styles of content — including expert curatorial insight, imaginative storytelling inspired by the people of Roman Verulamium, and extracts from a real 1930s excavation diary written by a teenage participant. The guide includes a flexible codeword challenge that helps students stay focused and allows teachers to monitor participation, while still giving students choice in how they explore the collection. Designed to support a range of learning styles and interests, the guide can be used flexibly within your gallery time and alongside your own teaching objectives.

Please bring your own devices to scan a QR code on site, which will take you to the audio tracks. We will provide a map which lists the locations of artefacts mentioned in the tracks. Students can also fill in a code word by listening to the tracks. We provide a teaching resource on booking, and both resource and tracks can be accessed off site and used at school.

For use in the classroom - Boudicca papercraft activity

• Boudicca Craft

Risk Assessment

• School risk assessment for Verulamium Museum

For all school visit enquiries please email: museumbookings@stalbans.gov.uk

Have fun!