School Visit FAQs

To book a place for your school, fill in our booking request form.

We respond to booking requests on a first-come first-served basis. A member of our booking team will get back to you to confirm or suggest alternative dates. Please note that at peak times the response time is a little slower than usual. Please await confirmation before booking transport for your visit. 

We require a minimum of 4 weeks advance notice of workshop bookings, and 2 weeks for self-guided visits. We do not accept bookings by telephone or by email, but if you have a query, you can email us with your question or send us your details to arrange a call back.

We offer fantastic value for money for schools visiting our museums, with prices as low as £30 or £60 per class, and there are plenty of opportunities to engage for free! Check individual workshop descriptions for details.

Payments must be made in advance, or on the day of your visit. We accept payments via credit/debit card, by cheque or also by cash if you are paying on the day of your visit. We can provide schools with an invoice and if it is funded by the Education Authority, please supply us with a PO number at the time of booking. Invoices must be paid in advance of your visit, or on the day. 

If you have to cancel your booking due to ill-health or lack of availability of transport, your payment will be refunded. If we need to cancel your booking due to unforeseen circumstances, we will aim to give you as much notice as possible of a cancellation and offer an alternative date. We’ll refund your payment if a suitable alternative date cannot be found.

Our museums have dedicated parking for cars, coaches, minibuses and Blue Badge holders, apart from the Ulster Museum, where coaches may stop on the Stranmillis Road to drop off visitors. Only car parking for disabled visitors is available at the Ulster Museum. All of our on-site parking is free.

Our museums have dedicated learning spaces and lunch rooms for school groups, and accessible toilets and changing facilities. Lunchrooms are available to book in 30 minute slots, and must be reserved at the point of booking.

On arrival, go to reception and a member of our team will welcome your group, show you where to store bags and coats and invite everyone in the group to enjoy a safe and memorable day at the museum!

Our museums operate under regularly reviewed public safety control measures. We have competed a series of risk assessments in line with current government advice and best practice. To have access to our sites, school groups must comply with the Terms and Conditions outlined in our pre-visit guide for teachers (a copy of which will be provided when you book).

All members of the National Museums NI education team Museum staff are vetted by Access NI. We operate our programmes in accordance with the National Museums NI Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults Policy, a copy of which can be provided when you book. Once you have booked your place on the programme, Health & Safety guidelines are provided to help with your risk assessment.

In order to ensure the safety and comfort of school groups, we stagger start times and limit the number of school bookings each day on our sites. We also limit the number of people in one group to 37. This allows for up to 33 primary school children and up to 4 adults to supervise. We advise teachers to split their class into smaller sets of up to 10 children with a supervising adult where possible when exploring our museums.