Plan Your School Visit

We hope that you will find everything you need here to plan a fun, educational and safe visit to Brunel’s SS Great Britain.

If you have any further questions or for more information, please contact us on 0117 926 0680 or email groups@ssgreatbritain.org

Preparing for your visit

 

  • Enjoy a free pre-visit recce to familiarise yourself with the site. Simply bring your confirmation letter to the Visitor Centre and show it to a member of staff to be admitted free of charge.
  • We have prepared a School Safety and Hazard Identification Guide to help you prepare your own risk assessment. Please note that this is not a risk assessment. Please follow your school’s guidelines in compiling your own risk assessment for your visit.
  • Share the Visual Story and Sensory Information Guide with any children who may need extra preparation or be worried about the visit.
  • Explore the free learning resources for schools available from our Learning and Education page
  • Check out our Top 10 Tips for a safe, smooth and enjoyable school visit to Brunel’s SS Great Britain.
  • Ensure all adult helpers are familiar with the schedule and activities for the day.
  • If you have booked a workshop, please be aware that your workshop leader will ask for the class teacher’s help to divide the class into smaller groups.

Access and Special Needs information

 

The SS Great Britain is accessible for wheelchair users and assistance animals are welcome. For more information, please click here.

There is free entry for carers and one to one support.

Visual Story and Sensory Information Preparation Guides

The Visual Story and Sensory Information Guides are designed to help pupils prepare for their visit to Brunel’s SS Great Britain. The guides contain pictures and information of some of the things pupils can expect to see and do on site.

The resources can be downloaded in PDF or adaptable PowerPoint format (PPT).

There are separate preparation guides for the tours and workshops which may be useful if you have booked these activities as part of your visit.

Visual Story – PDF // PPT
Visual Timetable – PDF // PPT
Sensory Information Guide – PDF // PPT
Mannequin Map – PDF // PPT
Sounds and Smells PDF // PPT
Guide to ‘Victorians at Sea’ workshop – PDF // PPT
Guide to ‘Passengers Investigation’ workshop – PDF // PPT
Guide to ‘Guided Tours of the Ship’ – PDF // PPT
Guide to ‘Brunel and his Ship’ workshop – PDF // PPT
Guide to ‘Brunel the Engineer’ workshop – PDF // PPT

The Medlock Education Centre (where workshops take place) has a dedicated quiet room that can be used, with adult supervision, for children to take time out during workshops. There is also a sensory story about Brunel and the SS Great Britain which can be shared with individual pupils and their 1:1s during the  workshop if needed.

Teacher’s Frequently Asked Questions

 

Information and answers to frequently asked questions can be found below.

Please contact the Bookings Team on 0117 926 0680 if you have any further questions.

“Having taught for years and been on many trips this was by far the best experience I have had. I would recommend a school visit to Brunel’s SS Great Britain to any other teacher.”

Key Stage 1 Teacher

The SS Great Britain Trust is grateful to the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and Arts Council England for their valuable support for this programme.