Royal Observatory digital school sessions

In this highly interactive workshop, your class will be the only one in the session with our Astronomer. Each session ends with a segment for Q&A so there are plenty of opportunities to ask questions and discover new things. The workshops use a combination of sound, film, polls and activities to explain different scientific concepts. 

These sessions can be run on Zoom or Teams, whichever works better in your classroom. Cameras and microphones can be switched on for interactivity.

Materials for the workshop and joining instructions will be sent to the lead teacher up to a week before the session. 

In this discounted workshop, multiple classes can join our Astronomer for a Sun, Earth, Moon workshop in a webinar style, and use a combination of sound, film, and polls to explore different scientific concepts. The session will be less interactive than the solo version, but students will still have the opportunity to respond to astronomer questions via polls and teachers will have the opportunity to send a question in advance from their class.

These sessions will run on Zoom, with cameras and microphones switched off for the duration of the workshop. Currently, we can only run Workshop Webinars for KS2 groups. 

Materials for the workshop, joining instructions, and a link to submit questions in advance will be sent to the lead teacher up to a week before the session.

• Curriculum links: Sun, Earth, Moon system: relative sizes, scale, orbital periods and motion.
• Session type: Workshop
• Session times: selected Wednesdays only - 10:30am and 11:30am
• Capacity: 30 pupils per session
• Price: £70 per session
• Duration: 45 minutes

In this digital session, students will explore the Sun, Earth and Moon system with a real Royal Observatory Greenwich astronomer. Together they will investigate the similarities, differences and the relative scale and shape of these amazing objects. The Earth and Moon’s motion through space and how it relates to the concept of time (day, month, year) will also be explored. The session will include a number of interactive elements such as video clips and practical activities to encourage students to think about how the Sun, Earth and Moon system works. A Q&A segment is included as part of the session so they can ask any big space questions they may have. The session will then be followed up with activities for students to try afterwards to test what they have learned.

• Curriculum links: Earth and Space
• Session type: Workshop
• Session times: selected Wednesdays only - 10:30am and 11:30am
• Capacity: 30 pupils per session
• Price: £70 per session
• Duration: 45 minutes

Students take a journey through our amazing Solar System in this interactive digital session. Together with a Royal Observatory Greenwich astronomer they will explore the different types of space objects from the Sun all the way through to space rocks and learn a little more about them along the way. This session will include a number of interactive elements such as video clips and activities to help get students thinking and talking about the wonders of our Solar System. A question and answer segment will finish up the session so they can ask any space questions they may have. The session will then be followed up with activities for students to try afterwards to give their brains a real workout.

• Curriculum links: Gravity force, weight, mass, states of matter, living organisms
• Session type: Workshop
• Session times: selected Wednesdays only - 10:30am and 11:30am
• Capacity: 30 pupils per session
• Price: £70 per session
• Duration: 45 minutes

In this digital session, students will explore the difference between mass and weight and look at what determines the strength of the force of gravity. They’ll apply their learning to see how gravity affects space exploration on the International Space Station, the Moon and Mars before diving into some of the active Mars missions. Delivered by a Royal Observatory Greenwich astronomer, this session will include a range of interactive activities such as video clips and activities to help explain the scientific concepts in a real world context. The session finishes up with a question and answer segment so students have the opportunity to ask any questions they have. Post-session activities will also be supplied for your students to try afterwards and test what they have learned.

• Curriculum links: life-cycle of stars (nebulae, protostars, main sequence, red giants, supernovae, white dwarfs, black holes)
• Session type: Workshop
• Session times: selected Wednesdays only - 10:30am and 11:30am
• Capacity: 30 pupils per session
• Price: £70 per session
• Duration: 45 minutes

Stars are born, live out their lives and die all throughout the universe, but what determines the path they take? What makes some stars meet an explosive end, while others simply quietly fizzle out? In this interactive digital workshop, a Royal Observatory Greenwich astronomer will walk your students through the life cycle of a star the size of our Sun, as well as the life cycle of stars much larger too. In the question and answer session students will have the opportunity to ask questions about stars or indeed anything astronomical, as well as being provided with post-workshop exercises to ensure they understand the key stages of a star’s life.

• Curriculum links: Parallax, standard candles (Cepheid variables, type 1a supernovae)
• Session type: Workshop
• Session times: selected Wednesdays only - 10:30am and 11:30am
• Capacity: 30 pupils per session
• Price: £70 per session
• Duration: 45 minutes

How do we measure distances in space? We can’t exactly pull out the tape measure to work out the distance between the Earth and the Moon, so astronomers have had to develop various methods to calculate distance on cosmic scales. In this interactive digital session, an astronomer from the Royal Observatory Greenwich will describe these methods and explain how they build on each other to create the cosmic distance ladder that allows us to measure the most distant of objects. Towards the end of the session students will have the opportunity to ask any astronomy or careers questions they may have and we will provide follow-up activities to stretch their knowledge of space even further.

• Curriculum links: Sun, Earth, Moon system: relative sizes, scale, orbital periods and motion.
• Session type: Workshop
• Session times: selected Wednesdays only at 10:30am
• Capacity: 30 pupils per session, with other schools in attendance
• Price: £15 per session
• Duration: 45 minutes

In this Workshop Webinar, students will explore the Sun, Earth and Moon system with a real Royal Observatory Greenwich astronomer. Together they will investigate the similarities, differences and the relative scale and shape of these amazing objects. The Earth and Moon’s motion through space and how it relates to the concept of time (day, month, year) will also be explored. The session will include a number of interactive elements such as video clips and practical activities to encourage students to think about how the Sun, Earth and Moon system works. The session will then be followed up with activities for students to try afterwards to test what they have learned. 

In our workshops, one of our astronomers will take a look at some of the biggest topics in space science and astronomy. These curriculum-linked sessions include a number of interactive elements such as video clips and demonstrations to help explain some of the more challenging scientific concepts. 

Solo Workshops are charged at £70 for a group of up to 30 students and you will be the only class in the session. 

Workshop Webinars cost £15 for a group of up to 30 students and will be joined by classes from other schools.  

The sessions are run by our real astronomers so there is always an expert available to ask any questions. Our content is developed by the astronomy education team in collaboration with our teacher forum. All sessions are tested and evaluated with the teacher forum and also with school groups to ensure that the content developed is exactly what teachers are looking for and what students will thoroughly enjoy! 

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Yes - LOTS. We have created a special Learning at Home hub if you are looking for activities that students can do by themselves. All of these curriculum-linked resources have been selected because they are self-contained, so great to be set as independent study activities.  We have something for everyone from EYFS to post-16 so check it out.  

On our website you will also find information about: our Teacher Forum, free teacher training sessions - both onsite and online, a growing collection of podcasts, blogs along with curriculum-linked classroom resources, animated videos.

Get involved - blogs, podcasts and our Teacher's forum

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