Monday
Deep Time and Ancient Worlds
Natural history, Stone Age life, early humans, ancient civilisations, archaeology, objects and evidence.
History Week UK 2027
Bring history to life.
A national week of history, heritage and live learning.
History Week UK 2027 is a national schools week helping children explore the people, places, stories and events that shaped their world — in classrooms, communities, cultural venues and live virtual connections.
Monday 26 April – Friday 30 April 2027
Family History Weekend: Saturday 1 May – Monday 3 May 2027
What is History Week?
Five days to bring history to life.
History Week gives schools a simple, inspiring structure for a week of historical discovery.
Each day focuses on a different window into the past, supported by classroom ideas, cultural partners, live virtual visits and local history prompts. Schools can take part in one lesson, one day, the full week, a venue visit, a live online session, or the Family History Weekend.
It is about making history easier, richer, more active and exciting — not about adding pressure to teachers.
Five days through history
A different window into the past, every day.
A suggested theme for each day of the week — a gentle spine that a class can follow from deep time to living memory.
Tuesday
Romans, Kingdoms and Early Britain
Romans, Anglo-Saxons, early kingdoms, settlement, belief, power and everyday life.
Wednesday
Vikings, Normans and Medieval Worlds
Vikings, Normans, castles, towns, trade, faith, law, conflict and medieval imagination.
Thursday
Tudors, Reformation and Changing Power
Henry VIII, the Tudors, exploration, religion, monarchy, parliament, printing, change and conflict.
Friday
Modern Britain, Memory and Local History
Civil war and democracy, empire and migration, World War I, World War II, post-war Britain, local history, family stories and community memory.
Schools can follow the suggested daily themes or adapt the week to suit their curriculum, local context and pupils.
How schools can take part
Four simple ways into the past.
Mix and match whatever suits your class, your timetable and your local area.
Use History Week classroom resources
Daily themes, ideas and prompts give teachers ready-made ways to bring each day to life.
Visit a place of history near you
A local museum, castle, archive, gallery, theatre, library or heritage site.
Book a live virtual session
Connect your class with a cultural partner for a live online history session.
Invite families and communities
Share stories together during the Family History Weekend that follows the school week.
A class can take part for one lesson, one day or the whole week. A school can use History Week for assemblies, projects, visits, live calls, local history, creative writing, performances, exhibitions or family learning.
For cultural venues and partners
Open your doors — in person and online.
History Week invites cultural, civic and heritage organisations to open their doors — physically and virtually — to schools across the UK. Whether you are a museum, castle, archive, theatre, library, author, parliament, gallery or local history group, you can help children encounter the past through real places, real objects and real stories.
- Create a public profile
- List physical visit opportunities
- List live virtual sessions for schools
- Offer free or paid workshops
- Promote family activities during Family History Weekend
- Be discovered by schools
- Later be promoted through the WhatSchool network and related school-facing platforms
Live history connections
Bring the past into the classroom.
Not every school can visit every place. History Week helps cultural partners reach classrooms that may never be able to travel to them. A live virtual session can bring a museum object, castle tower, archive document, author, actor, historian, parliament chamber, battlefield story or local memory directly into the classroom.
Live session
A castle live from the battlements
A castle giving a live tour from the battlements.
Live session
Objects from the ancient world
A museum showing objects from ancient Egypt or Roman Britain.
Live session
An author reads and answers
An author reading historical fiction and answering questions.
Live session
Democracy and debate
A parliament explaining democracy and debate.
Live session
Wartime letters from the archive
An archive showing wartime letters.
Live session
Costume, performance and story
A theatre exploring costume, performance and storytelling.
Live session
Investigate your own town
A local historian helping pupils investigate their own town.
Family History Weekend
The week opens out to families.
Saturday 1 May – Monday 3 May 2027
Family History Weekend — the bank-holiday weekend after the school week
After the school week, History Week opens out into Family History Weekend — a chance for children, parents, carers and communities to keep exploring together. Venues can run family trails, special talks, reenactments, workshops, performances, object handling, local history walks, archive days and family-friendly events.
The bank-holiday weekend gives venues a public-footfall opportunity too — a reason to take part that reaches well beyond the school day, welcoming families, local people and visitors through the doors.
Why history matters now
A space to pause, look back and ask better questions.
Children are growing up in a world of instant information, short attention spans and constant now. History Week helps them pause, look back, ask better questions and understand that the world they live in was shaped by real people, choices, conflicts, discoveries, migrations, inventions, beliefs and stories.
Children learn through the senses
Seeing, hearing and handling the past makes it real.
Emotion makes learning memorable
A story that moves a child is a story they remember.
Active learning matters
Children learn more by doing, making and exploring than by listening alone.
Imagination helps children inhabit the past
Imagining other lives builds empathy and understanding.
Revisiting learning deepens understanding
Returning to ideas across the week helps them stick.
Timelines help children see the whole picture
A clear sequence shows how one age leads to the next.
Real places and objects make history tangible
Standing where history happened brings it within reach.
Built for teachers, not extra pressure
More with the time you already have.
History Week is designed to help schools do more with the time they already have.
Resources, daily themes, venue ideas and live sessions give teachers simple ways to enrich history learning without having to build everything from scratch.
Flexible, supportive and entirely optional — take what helps and leave the rest.
Founding partners and sponsors
Help launch a national week that opens the past to every classroom.
Founding partners will help launch a national week that connects children with the stories, places and people that shaped their world. Support can help create resources, widen access, promote cultural venues, support schools in disadvantaged communities and make live history connections available to more classrooms.
Founding partners
Help launch a national week, create resources and widen access for schools in disadvantaged communities.
Cultural partners
Museums, castles, archives, galleries, theatres, libraries and local history groups opening their doors to schools.
Supporters
Funders and sponsors who want to back history, heritage and live learning for children across the UK.
Register interest
Be part of History Week 2027.
Choose your route below. The full forms live on the register page — we'll keep you posted as History Week 2027 takes shape.
Schools
Register your school's interest in taking part in History Week 2027.
Register your school's interestVenues & cultural partners
Open your doors — physically and virtually — to schools across the UK.
Register as a venue or cultural partnerSponsors & founding partners
Help launch a national week that connects children with the past.
Become a founding partner