Royal Observatory online sessions

Royal Observatory online sessions have been temporarily suspended. Please keep an eye on this page for updates. Details on our programme for 2024-25 academic year will be published in the Summer term. 

To keep up to date on announcements and news at the Royal Observatory, sign up to our Schools Newsletter.

Sessions led by the National Maritime Museum, Queen's House, Cutty Sark and The Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre are running as normal.

Here's all you need to know about booking a digital schools session at Royal Museums Greenwich.

We've got a huge range of school sessions for you and your students, which we can deliver through Zoom or Teams. This pages includes information about all our sites: the Royal Observatory, National Maritime Museum, Cutty Sark, the Queen's House and the Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre.

Managing your booking

Our booking process is pretty similar to booking on-site visits. Here is a breakdown of the stages:

1. Decide what sessions you want to book

If you haven't already, make sure you check out the pages below to see what we offer at our different sites.

All of our digital sessions carry a charge of £60 for a class of 30 students.

Please note all school sessions must be payed for in advance by credit/debit card or by BACS if requested. We do NOT send invoices or accept payment by cheques. You'll find more information about our cancellation policy and payments in our terms and conditions.

 2. Choose your dates

Our programmes run at different times: 

  • Royal Observatory Greenwich: workshops run once a month on selected Wednesdays during term time. Autumn term dates are: 11th October, 1st November, 29th November and 20th December.
  • National Maritime Museum, Queen's House, Cutty Sark and The Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre: Digital session days and times can be flexible but mostly run on Thursdays and Fridays. 

It is always good to have a few dates in mind as the programme gets super busy. Please note we cannot take bookings with less than a week's notice.

3. Get in touch

To book a digital session with us, please complete an online enquiry form. Our teams will get back to you and will then take you through the booking process and answer any questions you have.

Fill out the enquiry form

4. Safeguarding

There are different things to consider when it comes to keeping your students safe during a digital session. Before your booking can be confirmed, we ask you to read our online safeguarding policy.

You are legally responsible for your group at all times. Please ensure that you have sufficient staff on every digital session with your group. If students are joining from home, please be sure to pass all relevant information on to their parents:

  • Sessions streamed in school: At least one member of teaching staff must be in the session at all times. Pupils will not be allowed access into sessions until there is sufficient teacher or group leader supervision,
  • For students joining a session from home aged:
    • 0-7 years, they must have an adult with them at all times.
    • 7-13 years, they must have an adult within the same social space of their home at all times.
    • 14-18 years, they must join the session from a social space in their home.

5. Have fun! 

That is it, pretty easy, right?  All that is left to do is enjoy the sessions. Afterwards we will point you in the direction of lots of different resources to use to follow up the session should you want to.

Main image: The Sword and the Rose (M42) © Marcus Davies, Astronomy Photographer of the Year Deep Space Commended 2010