Primary school visits to Knole

St Thomas's Primary School visits Knole, Kent

Choose from a range of interactive, hands-on, curriculum-linked activities, all of which can be tailored to suit your requirements.

Primary school visits can be tailored to individual requirements and can include the following elements:

Experience life in Tudor times

Experience life in Tudor times with an interactive costume workshop discussing the workers and rich folk who lived at Knole 400 years ago. Your pupils will also have an opportunity to delve into rich and poor chests of replica Tudor artefacts as they discover more about the Tudor life – their food, the lighting they used, their health and hygiene and their school, work and play-time.

Dress in Tudor costume and imagine what life would have been like at Knole
Dress in Tudor costume and imagine what life would have been like at Knole
Dress in Tudor costume and imagine what life would have been like at Knole

Art and design

Use Knole's rare textiles and portrait collection to inspire art and design projects. In our portrait module, the learning team discuss some of the key portraits in the Knole collection, covering topics such as symbolism in portraits and the design of portrait frames. Pupils then have an opportunity to draw their own self-portrait to take back to school. Paper and art materials are all supplied.

Draw your own self-portrait inspired by Knole's collection
Draw your own self-portrait inspired by Knole's collection
Draw your own self-portrait inspired by Knole's collection

Discovering the wildlife

Explore Knole Park on a guided walk led by the learning team. Enjoy watching the deer from a safe distance, listen out for the distinctive call of green woodpeckers, find out about the ant hills and ice house and measure ancient trees to find out their age. Park walks can be adapted to include compasses, map skills, landscape and prehistory.

Measuring trees in Knole Park to discover their age
Measuring trees in Knole Park to discover their age
Measuring trees in Knole Park to discover their age

Discovering buildings and materials

Our courtyard trail allows pupils to work in small groups as they answer quiz questions in Knole’s two largest courtyards, Green Court and Stone Court. The discovery trail encourages close-looking and covers building materials, such as features on windows and water troughs, dates on the drainpipes, Roman stones and Prehistoric deer antlers. Trails, clipboards and pencils are all supplied.

Primary school children examine historical features in Knole's Green Court
Primary school children examine historical features in Knole's Green Court
Primary school children examine historical features in Knole's Green Court

Conservation science techniques

Understand the science behind conserving the fragile and historic artefacts at Knole. Your pupils will have an opportunity to watch a presentation explaining why light, pests and dust damage the collections and how the conservation project at Knole will help to save Knole’s unique and precious treasures for the future. They will also be able to make a light meter to take back to school.

Learning about the conservation techniques used to preserve Knole's precious collection
Learning about the conservation techniques used to preserve Knole's precious collection
Learning about the conservation techniques used to preserve Knole's precious collection

Special needs visits

The Great Hall, Estate Office, Orangery, Lord Sackville's garden and parts of the deer park are all wheelchair-accessible. Our learning team will be delighted to organise specific activities, such as music, costume or handling sessions to suit the needs of your pupils.

" We felt very privileged to be given such special treatment. We received such a wonderful welcome and everybody went out of their way to ensure we would have a positive experience, nothing was too much trouble, even using the lift into the Orangery…many times! We left Knole feeling jubilant and will definitely be visiting again."
- A teacher at Valence School, Kent
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To find out more about school visits, please contact KnoleLearningTeam@nationaltrust.org.uk