Plan your school visit

Get everything sorted for your school trip to London Museum Docklands, where the history of the docks and the River Thames are brought to life.

  • Schools taking part in gallery activities including object handling, drama with actors and craft.

    Go deeper in your history and geography teaching by exploring the fascinating social history of the docks.

  • Guided Learning Session following Covid procedures in place at London Museum Docklands

    Get even closer to our objects and stories with a museum-led school session.

  • Schools participating in drop sessions in MOLD galleries and Mudlarks, with actor playing Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

    Younger pupils under eight can learn through play and exploration in our interactive Mudlarks gallery.

Self-led visits

Booking a self-led visit means you can go at your own pace and choose your own itinerary.

Go deeper in your history and geography teaching by exploring the fascinating social history of the docks.

Younger children can learn through play and exploration in our interactive Mudlarks gallery, or wind through Victorian streets at Sailortown.

Have your students reflect on London’s role in the British trade in enslaved Africans in our dedicated London, Sugar & Slavery gallery. 

Or, enrich your teaching of the Second World War and the Blitz by exploring the Docklands at War gallery.

See our gallery availability here.

Book a self-led visit

Schools sessions

Book one of our free, interactive school sessions to get even closer to the museum’s objects and stories.

Our sessions have been creatively designed to link with the curriculum and develop enquiry and oracy skills. All our sessions are created in collaboration with our advisory panel of teachers across London.

School session bookings include self-led time in our galleries and a slot in our dedicated lunch space.

Book a session

Need to know

Get ready for your school trip to the museum.

We highly recommend that all teachers leading school visits make a planning visit before bringing a class, to get an idea of the space and content.

There's no need to book in advance for our free galleries, but if you'd like to make a free planning visit to a paid exhibition or our interactive Mudlarks gallery, please call our Box Office on 020 7001 9844, or email [email protected].

We’re fully accessible and you can borrow a wheelchair or powered scooter – make sure to request this at the point of booking.

You can also use our visual story and sensory map to prepare your visit.

We regularly run activities tailored for SEND students, which you can find on our school sessions page.

Accompanying staff are responsible for their group’s behaviour and we ask groups to split into smaller units when exploring the museum and shop.

Your group should meet our required staff/pupil ratio:

Early Years Foundation Stage – 1:3
Key stage 1 – 1:6
Key stage 2 – 1:6
Key stage 3 – 1:10
Key stage 4 – 1:15
Key stage 5 – 1:15
SEND – 1:5

Here's all you need to know about our risk assessment advice for schools.

Please book a 30-minute slot in our dedicated lunch space. This is a space where you can eat packed lunches. No food is allowed in the galleries.

Feel free to take as many photos as you like for educational use – just make sure they're without flash or a tripod.

We’re easily accessible by public transport, coach and even river. Find out more about getting here.

When you arrive at the museum, one of our friendly team members will greet you and show you to cloakrooms, toilets, galleries and activity spaces. They’ll be on hand to answer any questions you may have.

Have more questions?

If you have any more questions about your visit that haven't been answered here, please email our friendly learning team on [email protected]

More on school visits