Museums & galleries
Share collections, objects and exhibitions that bring a period of history vividly to life.
For Venues & Cultural Partners
Open your doors to every classroom.
Real places. Real objects. Real stories.
History Week invites museums, galleries, archives, castles, theatres, libraries, civic buildings, authors, historians and heritage organisations to share the past with schools across the UK — in person and online. Register your interest now, and help children encounter history where it really happened.
Monday 26 April – Friday 30 April 2027
Family History Weekend: Saturday 1 May – Monday 3 May 2027
An invitation
A place for every kind of venue.
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.
Castles & heritage sites
Open up battlements, great halls, ruins and grounds where history actually happened.
Archives & libraries
Reveal documents, maps, letters and records that let pupils investigate the past first-hand.
Theatres & performers
Explore costume, performance and storytelling that help children inhabit other times.
Parliaments & civic institutions
Explain democracy, debate, law and local government to the next generation of citizens.
Authors & historians
Read, talk and answer questions — connecting writers and experts directly with classrooms.
Local history societies
Help pupils discover the stories, streets and people of their own town and community.
And more
Storytellers, re-enactors, science centres, places of worship and other heritage organisations are warmly welcome too.
How venues take part
Three ways to welcome schools.
During History Week, venues can welcome schools in person, reach classrooms that can't travel, and open out to families across the bank-holiday weekend — choosing whichever routes suit you.
Physical visits
Welcome school groups on site during History Week — for tours, trails, object handling, talks and workshops in the places where history happened.
Virtual visits
Connect live with classrooms that can't travel to you — bringing an object, a gallery, a castle tower or an archive document directly into the room.
Family History Weekend
Run family trails, talks, re-enactments, workshops and family-friendly events across the bank-holiday weekend that follows the school week.
You choose how much you take part — one virtual session, a single school visit, a full week of activity, or a weekend of family events.
On location
Welcome schools through your doors.
There is nothing like standing in the real place. History Week gives schools a reason — and a structure — to plan visits, and gives venues a national moment to be discovered by teachers looking for somewhere to bring the past to life.
School visits
Tours, trails and object handling
Invite classes to explore your site, follow a trail built around the daily themes, or get hands-on with real objects and evidence.
School visits
Talks, workshops and performances
Run a workshop, a costumed performance, a curator talk or a hands-on activity tied to a moment in history pupils are exploring that week.
Live connections
Reach the classrooms that can't reach you.
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
Give a virtual tour from a tower or great hall, bringing a real place into a classroom hundreds of miles away.
Live session
Objects from the collection
Show objects from ancient Egypt, Roman Britain or any period — up close, on camera, with the stories behind them.
Live session
An author or historian Q&A
Read from historical fiction, share research, and answer pupils' questions in a live conversation.
Family History Weekend
A public weekend, a full diary.
After the school week, History Week opens out into Family History Weekend — Saturday 1 May – Monday 3 May 2027. The bank-holiday timing gives venues a natural opportunity to welcome families and visitors, beyond the school audience.
Venues can run family trails, special talks, re-enactments, workshops, performances, object handling, local history walks, archive days and family-friendly events.
For many organisations, the weekend is a chance to turn a national week of history into footfall, profile and new local audiences — children arriving with parents, carers and grandparents, ready to keep exploring together.
Register now, build later
Start with interest. Grow into a profile.
Registering interest takes a few minutes and commits you to nothing. As History Week 2027 takes shape, registered venues will be the first invited to build a fuller presence — and we'll keep you posted every step of the way.
Right now
Tell us who you are and what you might offer. That's all it takes to be on the list.
- Register your venue's interest, free
- Tell us whether you're interested in school visits, virtual sessions or family events
- Be among the first to hear as plans develop
- Help shape a national week of history and heritage
As we build (future)
The features below are planned for later phases — described here so you know where this is heading.
- Create a public venue profile
- List physical visit opportunities
- List live virtual sessions for schools
- Manage availability and take booking requests
- Offer free, paid or sponsored sessions
- Promote family activities during Family History Weekend
- Be discovered by schools — and, later, promoted through the WhatSchool network and related school-facing platforms
These richer features are planned for future phases — registering interest now simply means you'll be first to use them.
Why take part
Good for children. Good for venues.
History Week is built to make it easier for schools to find you, plan with you and learn from you — while helping you reach more young people and their families.
Meet more schools
A national week gives teachers a reason to look for venues — and a moment to plan visits and live sessions around.
Reach further, virtually
Live sessions let you connect with classrooms that could never travel to you — widening access far beyond your local area.
A public weekend
Family History Weekend lands on a bank holiday — a natural opportunity to welcome families and new local audiences.
Bring history to life
Help children learn through real places, real objects and real stories — exactly what venues do best.
Take part your way
One session or many; in person, online or both; schools, families or both. You decide what works for you.
Be discoverable
Registered venues are first in line for future profiles, listings and promotion through school-facing platforms.
Part of a bigger story
Connected to the Cultural Partner movement.
History Week shares its approach with Earthrise:Live, our sister initiative, where museums, castles, galleries, science centres and heritage sites become Cultural Partners — bringing history and culture to life for classrooms around the world.
The same simple idea runs through both: connect the places that hold our shared past with the schools and children who can learn from them — in person where possible, and live online wherever distance gets in the way. By registering with History Week, your venue takes a first step into that wider network of cultural partners.
Register interest
Open your doors. Bring history to life.
Register your venue's interest now — it's free, it commits you to nothing, and we'll keep you posted as History Week 2027 takes shape.