Free Educational Visits Scheme

Our free educational visits scheme is open to organised groups visiting Edinburgh Castle from September to April inclusive.

Educational visits to Edinburgh Castle during May to August inclusive can still be booked, but there will be an entry charge.

Qualifying groups and accompanying supervisory adults can apply for free entry provided that:

- the visit has a genuine educational purpose and that planned educational activity will be carried out as part of that visit
- a booking is made at least 10 days in advance
- pupils/students are supervised by the group leader throughout the visit
- where applicable, the correct adult to child ratio is met
    1 supervisory adult per 10 pupils/students over the age of 8 but under 16
    1 supervisory adult per 6 children over the age of 5 but under 7
    1 supervisory adult per 2 children under the age of 5
    for special needs visitors it is suggested there is at least 1 supervisory adult per 4 visitors    

How to book
If you are unsure as to whether your group meets the criteria of this scheme, please contact our Education Unit or visit www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/education_unit. Ask about our travel subsidy, free planning visit (& hazard planning sheets) and support materials for teachers and group leaders.

Schools Activity Programme
Our popular Schools Activity Programme is sent to all Scottish schools at the beginning of the academic year. You can also download from www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/education_unit. For a small charge per head, it offers a wide range of activities, all specially designed to support the four capacities of the Curriculum for Excellence and link our historic sites with topics being studied in schools from Early Years to S6.

Activities cross many curricular areas such as technology, social subjects and expressive arts, and include cross-cutting themes such as education for citizenship. Activities take a variety of forms, for example; artefact handling, storytelling, costumed presenters, time detective investigations, workshops focusing on medieval warfare or building technology.  

Community Projects

We respond to requests to support local community learning and development wherever possible. Education Officers have worked with a range of community groups, who have used properties such as Edinburgh Castle free of charge to learn about their local heritage and to inspire creativity in a variety of media.

If you have an idea for a project at Edinburgh Castle, please call the Edinburgh Castle Education Officer directly.

Edinburgh University Open Studies Courses at Edinburgh Castle
Historic Scotland has teamed up with Edinburgh University to host a number of their open studies short courses and study days where these are relevant to Edinburgh Castle.  The full list of courses available can be found at www.lifelong.ed.ac.uk

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
The Education Unit offers a variety of CPD events for teachers at many of our sites.  These events aim to help teachers develop the skills to use historic sites effectively in support of classroom teaching, as well as to provide the opportunity to try out some of the on-site resources and activities.  

Some events specifically train teachers in how to lead an educational visit to a historic site through developing observation and evidence finding techniques, incorporating storytelling, and using costumes and artefacts.  

Contact Us

Education Unit
All bookings to Edinburgh Castle, plus school programme activity bookings and education visit enquiries.

Telephone: +44 (0) 131 668- 8793/8736
Email:  hseducation@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Craig Fletcher, Edinburgh Castle Education Officer
Telephone: +44 (0) 131 225-9846 ext 255
Email: hseducation@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Free downloads

Investigating Historic Sites

Free curriculum-linked support materials for schools and other education groups.

• Download Investigating Edinburgh Castle [1.44Mb]

Investigating Prisons of War

An education for Citizenship resource

• Download Investigating Prisons of War [1.77Mb]

Contact us for others in the series.