The Pharaohs and Beyond
A school residential trip focusing on ancient civilisations allows students to explore the remarkable achievements of early non-European societies, tracing the profound, lasting impact of their innovations, engineering, and social structures on the modern world.
While these incredible societies flourished thousands of miles away, world-class exhibitions and dedicated museum collections across the South Coast—such as the renowned Tutankhamun exhibition in Dorchester—bring global ancient history directly to pupils. By stepping outside the classroom to handle artefacts and view detailed recreations, children gain a tangible connection to the builders of the pyramids, the engineers of the Nile, and the citizens of the Indus Valley.
- Innovation and Engineering: Students investigate the monumental architectural and scientific achievements of early civilisations, exploring how societies like Ancient Egypt harnessed the power of rivers for agriculture and built structures that have survived for millennia.
- Beliefs, Myths, and Culture: Interactive museum workshops help pupils unpack the complex religious beliefs, burial practices, and daily lives of ancient people, decoding hieroglyphs and understanding how they viewed the afterlife.
- Power and Social Structures: Children explore the rigid hierarchies of early non-European societies, comparing the absolute power of pharaohs and rulers with the vital everyday roles of scribes, merchants, and the workers who built ancient cities.
Browse our curated selection of venues and educational activities below to build the perfect ancient civilisations itinerary for your class.
Ancient Civilisations, Conquest, and the Foundations of British Society
At KS3, the national curriculum requires students to grapple with the complexity of early societies, the nature of empires, and statutory local history studies from before 1066.
- Romanisation and Imperial Control: Moving beyond everyday life to evaluate how the Roman Empire governed Britain, exploring economics, taxation, infrastructure, and the assimilation of Celtic tribes.
- Pre-Roman British Society: Investigating Iron Age tribes and comparing complex, agricultural Celtic societies with the invading Roman civilisation, examining themes of power, resistance, and warfare.
- Local History & World History Studies: Utilising Roman villas, Iron Age hillforts, and world-class museum exhibitions to fulfil the statutory requirement for a local history study (pre-1066) and the study of a significant society in world history.
Dorset
Hampshire
Isle of Wight
