The Abbey is not currently open for public worship, general visiting or private prayer. Meanwhile, the community of Abbey clergy are continuing to worship and pray, in-line with government guidance. They are also producing a podcast to mark key liturgical events.
Find out moreA visit to Westminster Abbey can be a significant event in a student’s education. Through a wide range of guided tours and workshops, we can support their learning of the National Curriculum for Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5. You can also take self-led tours – and watch video sessions if you can’t visit.
We offer Virtual Tours and Video Conferences as well as onsite workshops and tours.
Book a video-conference session led by our education officers, and your students can talk to us live, on a topic of your choice. Video-conferences are free of charge and can be booked at a time to suit you. Please call us to discuss your requirements.
Pay us a virtual visitWestminster Abbey is a living church at the heart of the nation's story where more than 1000 years of British history and pilgrimage can be explored under one roof. A warm welcome awaits all in this sacred space.
Our Abbey Highlights Tour includes:
This tour can be tailored to suit your study topic.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 and Post-16
Tour duration: 1.5 hours
Cost: £4
Duration of tours: 1.5 hours | Cost: £4, except where stated
Christian Life and Worship
Explore how symbols help Christians to worship in the Abbey and live the Christian life. This tour looks at how symbolic objects, actions, words and images are used in baptism, marriage and funerals.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 and Post-16
Pilgrimage
Why have people come to the Abbey as pilgrims for nearly a thousand years? Find out about the Shrine of St Edward, and consider what pilgrimage means to Christians and offers to all.
Suitable for: KS3 and KS4
Abbey and Parliament
See where Parliament met in medieval times and explore the historical and contemporary links between the Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 and Post-16
Religion and Science
Some of the greatest, and most controversial, scientists are buried or remembered at Westminster Abbey. This tour explores the relationship between science and religion in the past and today.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 and Post-16
Religion in Public Life
Consider what Britain as a 'Christian country' means in the Coronation Church, where Benedictine values of hospitality, mutual respect and tolerance continue to contribute to contemporary society. Additional 'Meet a Priest' workshop recommended.
Suitable for: KS4 and Post-16
Meet a Priest
Put your questions on Christian teaching and moral, ethical and social issues to a member of the clergy. Can be combined with any RE tour of the Abbey.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 & Post-16
Tour and Workshop duration: 2 hours
Cost: £5 per student
Duration of tours: 1.5 hours | Cost: £4
Gothic Abbey
Explore the differences between Medieval Gothic and Victorian Gothic on this architectural and literary tour.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 & Post-16
Shakespeare
Faith, power and death: explore the cultural context of Shakespeare’s plays in Westminster Abbey and visit the graves and memorials of Tudor and Jacobean playwrights.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 & Post-16
Art in the Abbey
Explore 1,000 of art from the medieval wall paintings to the brand new Queen's Window designed by David Hockney. Includes opportunities for sketching.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 & Post-16
Duration of tours: 1.5 hours | Cost: £4
Dissolution: Before and After*
600 years of monastic life ended here in 1540. Investigate the pre-Reformation church exploring themes such as church fabric and wealth and religious doctrine. Discover the story of how one of the most powerful monasteries in the land was dissolved.
Suitable for: KS4 & Post-16
Henry VII: Building a Legacy
Find out how Henry VII established and consolidated his dynasty with this detailed look at the Lady Chapel and the Shrine of St Edward. Tour includes rare access to Henry's tomb.
Suitable for: KS4 and Post-16
Enquiring into Elizabeth*
Discover what sovereignty meant to Elizabeth I as you stand at the Coronation site and find out how her religious settlement affected Westminster Abbey.
Suitable for: KS4 and Post-16
* These sessions can be booked as part of a joint offer with The National Archives at Kew.
Tour and Galleries visit duration: 2 hours | Cost: £5
Visit the stunning Galleries high above the east end of the Abbey and view some of the rare and unusual objects in the Abbey collection. A visit to the Gallery must be booked as an add-on tour.
Duration: Minimum 3 hours plus time for lunch | Cost: £7
Make a full day of your visit, by combining your guided tour with a workshop, guided visit to The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries and/or a self-led Abbey tour using one of our downloadable trails.
Subject to availability. Groups of 15 maximum at a time in the Galleries. Must be booked at least three weeks ahead of the visit date.
Schools are welcome to come and explore the Abbey without a guide on self-led visits. We have trails available to download to support your visit. The trails cover a range of topics, including Church and State, Maths, Tudors, Christianity, Super Scientists and Charles Dickens.
Plan your self-led visitWe encourage visits from all UK schools. However, we recognise that the cost of a visit can be a barrier.
Schools with 35% or more pupils eligible for free school meals may book a free guided tour of the Abbey.
All maintained schools in the boroughs listed may bring one whole year 8 group for free for any guided tour this academic year.
Email us to find out more and book your visit: [email protected]
Eligible Boroughs:
Barking and Dagenham
Brent
Camden
Enfield
Greenwich
Hackney
Haringey
Islington
Lambeth
Lewisham
Newham
Southwark
Tower Hamlets
Waltham Forest
Westminster
Free visits subject to availability
If you want to receive email updates about upcoming workshops and events for schools, join our mailing list.
Join our mailing listWestminster Abbey won the award for Best Venue for History Learning at the School
Travel Awards 2019/20. Organised by School Travel Organiser magazine, the awards recognise
those in the education sector who excel in providing exciting and educational trips for
Primary and Secondary schools.
You are surrounded by history at the Abbey, not like a museum where it’s just displayed, but here you are standing where history has happened.
