Plan your visit

Our bookings team will help you plan the day’s schedule, including the selection and timing of activities, suitable time in the exhibition and arrangements for lunch. 

We want to make sure everyone is well supported when they visit us. Please chat to us about any access and learning needs when you book, so we can adapt activities to help meet these needs. 

Visit our accessibility page for general information.  

 

Free planning trips

All teachers are entitled to a free planning visit upon making and confirming a booking with us. This includes up to 4 tickets, that you can use during this visit for either your colleagues or partner and children.

These visits are subject to availability, and you’ll need to book at least 2 working days in advance.

To book your visit please email education.bookings@wethecurious.org with your school email address and the details of the booking reference number.  

All teachers attending a teacher planning visit will receive a follow up email from us as part of your visit to ask for feedback.

 

Preparing for your school visit 

Accompanying adults 

We ask for the following numbers of accompanying adults to remain with students in a supervisory and supportive role in workshops, shows and exhibition spaces:  

For nurseries and EYFS, one adult is required per 3 students  

For KS1, one adult is required per 5 students  

For KS2 – KS5, one adult is required per 10 students.  

 

Risk assessments   

We’ve put together the following information to support your individual risk assessments.

We also recommend sharing this information with the other accompanying adults visiting on the day: 

 

Payment 

Please check that your finance team has arranged payment before you visit or provided us with a purchase order so we can send a final invoice after your trip.  

Minibus parking 

If you’re coming by minibus, you’ll need book your parking space when confirming your trip booking, as spaces are limited.  

Storage  

We have a dedicated secure area for lunch boxes and coats. Space is limited space though, so we ask that the children don’t also bring school bags with them.

 

Prayer room  

Please let us know in advance if anyone in your party would like to use the prayer room. 

 

Getting here 

Detailed informatsion on how to get to use with different means of transport can be found in getting here section on our website.

Please note, we’re within the Bristol Clean Air Zone, so you may incur a fee if you use a vehicle to visit us. Please visit our FAQs, or the Clean Air Bristol website for more info. 

 

Our terms and conditions 

We want you to have a wonderful visit and we’ll do everything we can to make sure things run smoothly.

We are a charity, so in some circumstances we need to recover costs from adjustments and cancellations. These are detailed below.

  

Booking

We will send you a provisional booking email with your school’s schedule for the day, price per pupil and a quote for the visit including VAT.

We ask that you confirm your booking and provide a valid PO number within 7 days of receiving this provisional booking email. Please include the billing address if different from the school address.

We reserve the right to cancel your booking if we do not receive confirmation within 7 days.

 

Payment

If you are a formal education establishment (nursery, primary or secondary school, tertiary, and higher education), and make a booking more than 30 days in advance, you have the option to pay via invoice. This will be issued after your visit and is payable within 30 days.

If you make a booking less than 30 days in advance or are not a formal education establishment, then payment will need to be made by credit/debit card or by BACS within 7 days of confirming your booking.

Unfortunately, we are not able to accept payment by cheque.

 

Amendments to bookings  

If you need to add adults or children to your booking, please let us know at least 7 working days in advance of your visit as some workshops and shows have a capacity cap. 

If you are paying by credit card, we will require immediate payment at the time of adjustment for adding additional numbers. 

Once your booking is confirmed, we are not able to issue refunds or adjustments to numbers, including for non-attendance on the day.

 

Changing of dates

If you need to amend the date of your visit, please notify us 30 days in advance of your booking and we will do our best to find a suitable alternative date. If this is not possible, or you have contacted us within 30 days of your visit, our cancellation policy will be applied (see below).

 

Changing activities or Planetarium shows

Please notify us 30 days in advance of your booking if you wish to make amendments to your activities or remove any activities.

We will always try to find alternative activities for your visit, but these are subject to availability.

If we are not able to offer an alternative activity, the original booking will remain in place. 

We are unable to amend activities within 30 days of your visit.

If you have prepaid for your visit, a £25 admin charge will be applied for amendments to your booking.

 

Cancelling your booking   

Bookings cancelled in advance of 30 days of your visit will not incur a charge unless you have pre-paid, at which point they will be charged a £25 admin charge. 

Bookings cancelled less than 30 days and up to 7 days in advance of your booking will be charged at 50% of the booking value. This includes all booked activities (admission, workshops, theme days, shows and Planetarium bookings).  

Bookings cancelled less than 7 days in advance of your booking will be non-refundable and you will be liable for 100% of the cost.  

We The Curious is not responsible for cancellation of coaches or reduced numbers able to attend the booking.  

 

Cancellation of booking due to venue closure  

In instances of unforeseen closure of the venue such as adverse weather conditions, we will contact you to arrange an alternative time and date for your visit. 

If we cannot arrange an alternative date, we will issue a refund of the amount paid for the booking (minus any discounts that were applied) back to you. 

 

Cancellation of booked activities.   

In the event of your prebooked activity or Planetarium show having to be cancelled on the day of your visit, we will try to supply an alternative workshop or suitable activity or the next available show. 

If this is not possible, we will refund the booked activity (minus any discounts that were applied).  

 

Late arrival  

If your group is running late, please contact the bookings team as soon as possible, and let them know your new estimated arrival time.

While we will do all we can to accommodate school groups who are delayed due to transport, it is not always possible to reschedule workshops and Planetarium shows for groups who arrive late. Schools will remain liable for the cost if they miss a charged-for activity.  

  

Adult child ratio  

School bookings must be correctly supervised by teacher/ teaching assistant at the following ratios 

       

Stage                 Adult to child ratio  

EYES                  1 Adult to every 3 Children  

KS1                     1 Adult to every 5 children  

KS2 - 5               1 Adult to every 10 children  

     

Discounts and promotions  

Unless specified, discounts and promotions cannot be used in conjunction with education bookings. This includes adult, junior and group memberships, the benefits of which are excluded from educational bookings to the centre.  

 

Personal belongings  

We cannot accept responsibility for valuables or other belongings.  

  

Teachers planning visits

All teachers are entitled to a free planning visit upon making and confirming a booking with us. This includes up to 4 tickets, that you can use during this visit for either your colleagues or partner and children.

Teacher planning visits are pre-booked only (please book at least 2 working days in advance) and are subject to availability. We apologise but we are not able to accommodate walk up visits. 

To book your visit please email education.bookings@wethecurious.org with your school email address and the details of the booking reference number. 

We will then check availability for you, if we are able to book your visit, we will then send a confirmation email to your school email address. 

If you do not have a school email address, we will send the confirmation email to your school reception. 

All teachers attending a teacher planning visit will receive a follow up email from us as part of your visit to ask for feedback.