The Wallace Collection offers a wide range of specifically designed education sessions for primary school groups. All sessions are free of charge and led by trained and enthusiastic artists and educators. Pupils engage with works of art in the galleries and take part in a range of activities, which can include looking, handling, drawing, discussion and making.
Download a PDF copy of the 2012-13 Schools Education Programme here
We can provide a Hazard Identification List to help you with your risk assessment. Click here to download.
Year round sessions can be booked at any time when the galleries and educators are available. Please refer to the Schools brochure or below for timings of dated sessions. All sessions are designed for one class of up to 30 pupils. School sessions are available Monday - Thursday.
We also offer a range of free eLearning resources for teachers to use with their class.
"The practical activities including the children dressing up and playing with props made for a fabulous session! They particulary enjoyed the multi-sensory element"
"The children were immersed in the subject matter and asked to participate through acting and language"
Reception
Off We Go! For Our Youngest Visitors
1 Hour. Supports Art and Design, English, History. All year round session
Pupils will go on a journey of discovery in this lively introduction to the Wallace Collection. Find gorgeous gold boxes, paintings and porcelain in this beautiful treasure-house. This session inlcudes observation, role-play, dressing-up, simple making activities and storytelling.
My First Visit
1 1/2 hours. Supports Art and Design, English, History. All year round session (also suitable for Key Stage 1)
A fun 'talk and draw' session for our younger visitors. Pupils will be introduced to a museum in an historic house and will learn to look at art and armour. In this interactive session pupils will try on some replica armour, and talk about and draw from the works of art.
Key Stage 1
Children and Families in the Past
1 1/2 hours. Supports Citizenship, History, Art and Design. All year round session.
Explore the differences and connections between the lives of children today by looking at historic objects and paintings of domestice life. This interactive workshop involves dressing up, role play and drawing.
Key Stage 1 & 2
Portraiture
1 1/2 hours. Supports Art and Design, History, English. All year round session
Explore portraits by Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Velazquez. Look at how children and adults have been painted over the centuries.
How to Look at Paintings: Objects and Meanings
1 1/2 hours. Supports Art and Design, English. All year round session
Your pupils will learn how to decode paintings and discover symbolic meanings in still life, portraits and allegorical paintings by some of the greatest artists in the world. A lively session including observational drawing and handling objects.
Landscapes and Seascapes
1 1/2 hours. Supports Art and Design, English. All year round session.
Pupils will learn the basic principles of landscape painting, including perspective, examine and discuss views of the countryside and sea and develop vocabulary. Inspired by paintings by Rubens, Canaletto and Claude they will create their own fabulous landscape.
Key Stage 2
Choose Your Words: Inspiration for Creative Writing - NEW!
1 1/2 hours for Years 3/4 and 2 hours for Years 5/6. Supports English. All year round session.
Children will tour this magnificent treasure house with a published children's author and respond to some of the rare and precious paintings and objects on view. They will write some short pieces to enhance vocabulary and description and to create and build characters. These pieces can be developed and polished at school. You can choose one of three topics for your tour. Teaching resources for each topic can be accessed by clicking on the links below.
Classical Myths: Gods, Heroes and Monsters
1 1/2 hours. Supports English, History, Art and Design. All year round session
Come face-to-face with Hercules, Perseus and Apollo, characters from Greek and Roman myths whose stories are told in paintings, sculptures, furniture and ceramics! Find our how these stories have inspired artists through the ages and finish with some observational drawing.
Knight or Foot Soldier: A Soldier's lige in Tudor Times: Hands-On Armour Session
1 1/2 hours. Supports English, Science (Materials and their Properties), Art and Design and Design Technology. All year round session
Why did less than a third of an army in Tudor Times fight wearing full plate-armour? How did armour develop through the ages? And who was Robert Dudley? Your pupils will discover how different ranks of the Tudor army protected themselves in battle, look at Tudor portraits and investigate the purpose, materilas, production and style of armour from this period through handling and trying on original armour and modern body protection.
Investigating Patterns: Printmaking Workshop
2 hours. Supports Art and Design, Mathmatics. Dated Session: 20 and 24 September, 16 and 18 October, 10 and 12 December 2012, 27 and 28 February, 20 and 21 May, 27 June, 3 and 4 July 2013
Come and explore the many different patterns which decorate the beautiful furniture, gilt staircase, ceilings and floors of this palatial home. Discuss regular and irregular patterns and then draw your own shape, turn it into a printing block and use it to make your own designs by printing it in different combinations. This workshop involves messy materials
Talking Textiles! Screenprinting Workshop
3 1/2 hours, including lunchtime (please bring a packed lunch). Supports English, Art and Design. Dated session: 26, 27, 28, 29 November 2012 then 16, 17, 18 April 7, 8 and 9 May 2013
During this fun day-long storymaking workshop pupils will listen to stories and make drawings inspired by works of art. In the afternoon they will turn their drawings into a screen-print story picture. This workshop involves messy materials.
Black History Month: Meet the Young Archer - NEW!
1 hour. Supports English, Drama, History. Dated session: 22, 23, 24 October 2012
Visit the Collection in the company of the Young Archer, a black man from the Dutch Golen Age of the 17th century. Pupils will learn about the painting in which he appears and the differing perceptions of black people held at the time. They will also learn how the Netherlands became one of the richest countries in Europe through their role in the spice - and slave - trades.
All Things Light and Beautiful: Colour and Painting Workshop
3 1/2 hours, including lunch (please bring a packed lunch). Supports Art adn Design, History, Science (materials and their properties). Dated session: 15, 16, 17 January, 12, 13, 14 February, 5, 6 March 2013
Using Rubens's famous Rainbow Landscape painting, made over 370 years ago, children will learn about his techniques and the colours he used, find out about primary, secondary, warm, coll and complimentary colours and see a demonstration of paint-making as done in the 17th century. Pupils can then create a modern rainbow landscape, using acrylic paints, equivalents of the colours Rubens would have used. This workshop involves messy materials.
Technology and Techniques in Sculpture
3 1/2 hours, including lunch (please bring a packed lunch). Supports Art and Design, Science (materials and their properties). Dated session: 28, 29, 30, 31 January, 11, 12, 13, 14 March 2013
Pupils will make their own 3D artwork to take home in this interactive hands-on workshop. They will look at and handle original sculptures from the Renaissance to the 19th century. They will discover how these works of art were made and then try out these techniques; including moulding and casting in our art studio. This workshop involves messy materials.
Rich and Poor in Tudor Times: Meet Sir Robert Dudley and Moll Cutpurse!
1 1/2 hours. Supports English, Drama, History. Dated session: 4, 5, 6 December 2012
Meet Robert Dudley, favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, and Moll Cutpurse, a cross-dressing female criminal from the Tudor underworld. Find out about their lives and what it was liek to be rich and poor in Tudor times. A truly interactive session!
Vive La France!
1 hour. Supports French, History. Dated Session: 21, 22, 23, 24 January 2013
Visit the Collection in the company of Madame de Pompadour, who owned some of the world-class French works of art you can see in the galleries. Step back into the 18th century, learn some basic French language and learn about life at King Louis XV's court.
Tete a Tete
1 1/2 hours. Supports French, History. Dated session: 4, 5, 6, 7 March 2013
A more advanced French language session during which pupils will learn and extend their vocabulary about the weather, the seasons, colours, animals and numbers. Led by Madame de Pompadour, classes will look at art from the 17th and 18th centuries and be encouraged to speak in French. Particularly suited for pupils who are gifted linguists.