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Special educational needs - introduction

With our broad collection of vehicles, objects and posters, the collection at London Transport Museum is accessible to students with a wide range of needs.

Join us for Sensory Horse Bus, an inclusive onsite workshop for neurodiverse students. In this session students will use smell, sight, touch & call and response to step back in time and take a journey on London’s first buses. 

Our popular Early Explorer Mornings will continue to be available for schools to book twice a term, giving neurodiverse students more opportunities to visit the Museum during quieter times. 

We have a quiet space available at the Museum should your students need some privacy during your visit. To access the space, please speak to Museum staff on the day of your visit.    

Gallery

A side view of a young boy playing on our Elizabeth line train driving simulator
Three young pupils in school uniform playing with toy trains
Kamiah and Battle Bus underneath the Forget-Me-Not installation

Schools Early Explorer Mornings

Our Early Explorer Mornings are an opportunity for SEND learners from EYFS - KS4 to visit the Museum at a quieter time, free from the general public.

This is a self-guided experience for you and your learners to discover the collection and the Museum in Covent Garden with many of the gallery sounds turned off, making it a peaceful space to visit. During this morning you will be able to:

  • Meet costumed characters
  • Explore objects from our collection
  • Investigate our vehicles
  • Borrow a sensory explorer bag
  • Explore our All Aboard play zone
     

A limited number of lunch spaces will be available to book, and break out spaces will also be available.

Members of the general public will be welcomed into the gallery from 12:00 onwards when we will start turning the sounds back on, although you are welcome to continue your visit.

Curriculum links: Science, History, Design and Technology

Dates: 

  • Thursday 2 November 2023 – Over 11s
  • Thursday 8 February 2024 – Under 11s
  • Thursday 28 March 2024 – Over 11s
  • Thursday 25 April 2024 – Under 11s
  • Thursday 6 June 2024 – Over 11s

Duration: 10:00 - 12:00
Tickets: £20 for Early Explorer Morning for up to 10 pupils (accompanying adults free)

Advanced booking is essential as places are limited.

Onsite sessions

Sensory Horse Bus (onsite)

Discover what it was like to travel through the streets of Victorian London on a horse-drawn bus. In this fun, 30-minute, multi-sensory storytelling session led by a specialist facilitator, your learners can travel back in time and explore the joys and challenges of the 1870’s horse bus. 

Using call and response, signed chants, and sensory props they can imagine what it was like to be pulled by horses through London streets 150 years ago. 

SEND: History, Communication

Through this workshop pupils will: 

  • Practice their listening and responding skills 

  • Investigate the bus as a form of public transport and how it has kept London moving  

  • Develop a greater understanding of the role that transport can play in a city. 

  • Practice their comparison skills   

  • Curriculum links

    Sensory and physical learning 

    • Responding through gestures and signs 

    • Learning through sight, smell, touch and sound 

    • Practicing mobility skills 

    History 

    • Changes within living memory, revealing aspects of change in national life 

    • Identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods 

    English 

    • Communication and Interaction skills 

    • Taking part in role play and performance 

    • Listen and respond in their preferred way to adults and their peers 

Available:

  • Friday 13 October 2023
  • Friday 26 January 2024
  • Friday 22 March 2024
  • Friday 17 May 2024

Start times: 10:45, 11:30, 12:30, 13:15
Duration: 30 minutes
Cost: £30

Capacity: 16 participants (including students and accompanying adults) and up to 6 wheelchair users per session

Woman in Victorian dress and bonnet climbing up the steps of a colourful horse bus

Self-guided visits

Booking a free self-guided visit gives you the flexibility to plan your own learning and explore the Museum galleries at your own pace.

Self-guided visits must be booked in advance.

Visits are available daily during term time; however, we recommend Fridays for groups looking to visit the Museum on a quieter day.

Available: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays during term time

Start times: From 10.00

Cost: Free, including adults within our recommended ratios. Additional adults must be booked and paid for in advance (discounted rate available). For more details see our Plan Your Visit page or speak to our bookings team.

Capacity: 30 children per day Monday-Thursday; 60 children per day on Fridays

A uniformed bus conductor holding historic ticket machine passing out cardboard tickets into the hands of schoolchildren

Sensory bags

Get the most from the galleries with a self-guided sensory explorer bag, filled with sensory objects and resources that will support you in connecting your learners to the collection.

Developed in consultation with SEND teachers, pupils and a sensory story specialist, our multi-sensory bags focus on key vehicles in the Museum galleries and contain a range of objects for learners to interact with, including sounds, smells, images and props.

A limited number of bags are available for groups to borrow, subject to availability.

Please reserve your bags in advance by contacting our bookings team on 0343 222 5000 or emailing [email protected].

Preparing for your visit

Virtual tour

Ahead of your visit, why not take a virtual tour of the Museum so you and your students know exactly what to expect during your visit?

Visual story

To prepare for your visit to London Transport Museum, we have made a visual story.

Download the visual story to guide your visit, so you know what to expect when you arrive.

How to book

Please book by contacting our bookings team on 0343 222 5000. Phone lines are open from 9:00-16:00 Monday-Friday, and 9:00-17:00 on Saturdays and Sundays.

For information about planning a schools session, visit our Plan Your Schools Visit page.