School visits and outreach

We offer a limited number of tailor-made workshops for school groups from Key Stages 1 to 5, currently free of charge. These sessions are available either on-site or as an outreach programme in your classroom.

For more details, please contact office@devonandexeterinstitution.

On-site sessions take place in our Blue Room overlooking Cathedral Green and our enchanting, book-lined Outer Library, home to the majority of the Institution’s historic collection. Our extensive resources support and enrich the National Curriculum, bringing subjects to life through hands-on learning.

Popular workshops include:

Global Lives
Uncover hidden histories within our collections. Suitable for KS3–5.

Books of Wonder
Explore evolution, natural history, and Darwinism. Suitable for KS1–3.

Exeter Home Front
Discover wartime Exeter, the Blitz, and contemporary accounts. Suitable for KS2–3.

Beautiful Experiments
Investigate the Age of Enlightenment, celebrity scientists, and the origins of physical and natural science. Suitable for KS2–3.

We welcome everyone! If you are unable to visit us in person, we also offer an outreach service for schools and community groups in the Exeter area. This includes tailor-made sessions for:

• • Early years settings
  • Children and young people with Special Educational Needs

“Thank you so much for today. The children have had a fantastic experience and have been buzzing about it all the way back to school  They absolutely loved the reading rooms and really wanted to be able to stay longer. Thank you so much for all the work you put into the day; it really is appreciated, and we hope to make use of your fantastic resource again and again in the future. You may well have inspired some new members today!”

“It was great to explore the reading rooms and they have definitely left a lasting impression on the children.  We spent the next 2 literacy lessons producing diaries as if the children were exploring a new continent for the first time and this idea was completely based on your brilliant day. Thank you so much again – what a great resource to have on our doorstep!  We really hope to visit again.”