School visits

The museum has been a school-trip destination since it opened, and the halls are built for it — a whole class can walk the collection in well under an hour.

Booking a visit

School groups are welcome every day the museum is open. Book ahead by phone or WhatsApp so we can hold a time slot for you; the numbers are on the Visit page.

Supervision

Pupils remain the responsibility of their teachers and adult supervisors throughout the visit. Please bring at least one adult supervisor for every fifteen pupils.

Arriving

There are two parking areas, each able to take three to five buses.

For the best experience, split your pupils into groups of twenty to forty, or simply by class, and send each group in fifteen to twenty minutes apart. Allow thirty to forty minutes for a group to walk the halls, and plan your timetable around that.

Eating

There are indoor and outdoor dining areas, each seating up to two hundred pupils. Reserve your lunch slot when you book. Meal packages can be ordered in advance, and the snack bar sells sandwiches, soft drinks, tea and coffee.

What to see

Seven halls run from the mountain forests to the deep sea: predators and mammals, birds and forest, reptiles and desert, seashells and corals, marine life and sharks, fossils and minerals — and the Live Reptile Zoo, where the animals are alive and being cared for.