Schools and groups
Learning
We take about 4,000 pupils a year. The aim is not to cover the curriculum — your classroom does that better. It is to put a real instrument in front of them and let them take a measurement nobody knows the answer to yet.
What a visit looks like
Every programme includes a dome show and a gallery session. The difference is what the practical half is, and how much of it is measurement rather than demonstration.
| Programme | Stage | Length | The practical half | Per pupil |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun, Earth, Moon | KS2 | Half day | Shadow sticks on the terrace, then modelling eclipses in the dome | £6.50 |
| Reading Light | KS3 | Half day | Building a spectroscope and identifying four gases from their lines | £7.50 |
| How Far Is That | KS3–4 | Full day | Parallax measured across the fell, then applied to real stellar data | £12.00 |
| Variable Stars | KS4–5 | Full day | Photometry on our own archive frames; classes contribute to the live programme | £14.00 |
| A Night on the Fell | KS4–5 | Residential | Two nights, real observing runs, data reduction the following morning | £96.00 |
Schools in west Cumbria travel free. Our patrons fund the coach for any school within 40 km, and for any school anywhere where the trip would not otherwise happen. Say so when you book; we will not ask you to prove it.
Real data, not a worksheet
The Variable Stars day uses frames from our own archive that have not been reduced yet. When a class measures a light curve, that measurement goes into the programme with the school’s name against it.
Roughly one class in twelve finds something the automated pipeline missed — usually a bad frame, occasionally something real. In 2024 a Year 12 group from Workington caught a flare on an M dwarf that our own reduction had clipped as noise.
Fourteen-year-olds can tell the difference between doing science and being shown science, and they are much more interested in the first one.
Teacher resources
Pre-visit and post-visit packs for every programme, plus our reduced archive data as CSV for use in class. All free, all without a login.
Young astronomers
First and third Saturday, 10:00–12:00, ages 8 to 14. £5, or free for family members. It books up; put your name on the list.
Groups and clubs
Astronomical societies, U3A, Scouts and Guides, and adult evening classes. Group rate for ten or more, and we will open outside hours for a society with its own programme.