Planning your school or education visit
Schools Risk Assessment
This document has all the information you need to enable you to complete your risk assessment for a trip to the village, including information about sessions taught by learning staff.
Village Map
This map has all our main attractions marked, as well as the local train stations and suggested coach drop off/pick up points.
Attraction Costs and Opening Times
Schools and groups must book visits in advance.
This link will take you to our main page detailing the general attraction opening times and admission costs.
School prices may differ, so please refer to the workshop information you are interested in.
Booking a workshop
Please note that all group visits must be booked in advance.
We reserve the right to refuse admission to groups who arrive without a booking.
Please give us at least three weeks notice of your visit.
Before you email us to book your visit, please have the following information ready:
- First, second and third choice of date and time
- Number of students and adults
- The school telephone number, address and postcode
- Attractions you want to visit and/or the workshops you want to book
- Any access or special requirements we need to be made aware of
To make a booking, please let us have the information above and send it to: [email protected]
Do check the booking confirmation we send out to make sure the details are correct.
Please contact us if you do not receive written confirmation within two weeks of making your booking or if you have any queries.
The Health & Safety Executive do not prescribe adult to pupil school trip ratios in law, however, we recommend the following ratio of adults to students:
- 1:3 for Early Years groups of children
- 1:5 for children of seven years and under
- 1:10 for children of eight years and above.
Bring as many adult helpers as you need and share your preparation with them so they can help your pupils better.
Free Teachers Planning Visit
Teachers and group leaders are welcome and encouraged to carry out a free planning visit to see how we can meet the aims of your visit and assess the site.
Our Learning Officer can arrange a personal planning meeting whenever convenient.
Travel information
You are encouraged to travel to the village by train for both cost and sustainability reasons.
We have two stations in the village (Port Sunlight & Bebington) and both are in easy walking distance of all the village attractions.
If you intend to travel by coach, you can arrange to be dropped off and collected outside our venues, please ask the driver to turn the engine off while waiting for your class.
Coach drop-off/pick up points are marked on the village map.
Accessibility
All of our workshops can be adapted to suit the needs of your pupils.
We can offer specially tailored sessions for pupils with a wide range of SENs, and we can discuss your individual requirements if you contact us directly.
Port Sunlight Museum and SoapWorks are fully accessible for people with disabilities or limited mobility with ramped entrances.
There are accessible toilets on ground floor levels of Port Sunlight Museum and SoapWorks.
The Learning Centre is accessible with its own wheel chair user’s entrance. Accessible toilets are currently over the road in SoapWorks.
Please contact us to discuss your needs and any additional support we may be able to provide.
Cancellation Policy
If you cancel a booking more than 10 working days before the date of the session, there will be no cancellation fee and we will release the date for other schools.
If you cancel a booking less than 10 working days before the date of the session, the school will be invoiced for the full cost of the visit unless there are exceptional circumstances.
If the museum has to cancel the workshop, you will be informed as soon as possible and invited to re-book at a discounted half price rate, but the museum cannot take responsibility for travel or other costs.
Lunch arrangements
Where possible, schools are encouraged to make use of the green spaces in the village for lunch time.
The school should bring their own bin bags, and children’s lunch should be stored in named disposable bags.
Port Sunlight Village Trust will collect and dispose of the rubbish for the class after lunch.
If the weather is particularly bad, the group can eat inside the Learning Space and the school staff and helpers will be left a brush and hoover to make the space ready for any activity in the space after lunch.