Schools and colleges

There is lots on offer for schools, colleges, and teachers at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village.

Our programme of interactive tours, creative workshops, resources, and projects support students and teachers to connect to and explore our collection, site, and story together, through looking, making and discussion.

Develop your students' knowledge and understanding of Art and Design with a visit to Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village. Through interactive tours, observational sketching and practical workshops we provide and facilitate a space for pupils to develop confidence, be inspired and gain understanding of our collection and Art and Design more broadly. Our offer of immersive and conversational gallery tours and artist-led workshops brings Watts Gallery - Artists’ Village alive and continues our founders vision of Art for All by All.

Choose from one of our packages

Group of school children in school uniform standing in an art gallery having a discussion. Some of the children are sitting on a bench.
School children in a pottery workshop
Photo inside an exhibition at Watts Gallery where a curator is giving a talk to a group of secondary school students

Art Detective

Interactive Tour: Discover the Historic Galleries with a focus on the Artworks by G F Watts. A Museum Educator will lead the group in exploring a variety of artworks which could cover a range of topics starting from as early as his Self-Portrait at the Age of 17, to the symbolic and protest Paintings painted in his later career. This tour will also introduce the De Morgan Collection which will be the focal point for the practical workshop.

Observational sketching: William De Morgan Collection

1 hour practical creative workshop:

- Relief Printmaking (Styrofoam) OR

- Monoprinting (Gelli Plates)*maximum of 30 children per day

Design Apprentice

Interactive Tour: With one of our Museum Educators, uncover the stories of Limnerslease, The Artists’ Home and Studio's. This tour will introduce both Mary Watts and G F Watts, bringing to life their story through exploring their home and working studios. Pupils will focus time on exploring Mary Watts as a designer, ceramicist and businesswoman.

Observational Sketching: Limnerslease House

1 hour practical creative workshop:

- Gesso Tiles (Modroc relief tiles) OR

- Pottery (Clay Tiles) *maximum of 30 children per day

Exhibition Encounter

Launching in October 2024, we are delighted to invite schools to encounter our temporary exhibition. Specially devised school tours will take place on Monday and Friday mornings between 9.30am and 11am; giving you and your class early and exclusive access to the exhibition and will be delivered by our Engagement Team. Read more

Number of Students: Maximum group size of 30 plus accompanying adults

Length: 1 Hour

Cost: £100 +VAT

For Key Stage 4 and Colleges

We can offer both sessions above, but pride ourselves in creating tailored experiences for this age group. We can tailor your day to included elements such as Artist led sketching sessions within the collection, opportunities to meet our Artist in Residence or hear about creative careers from those who work at Watts Gallery.

Number of Students: We will accept groups of up to 60 pupils on site*. Some of our workshops are limited to a maximum of 30 Children per day.

Length: 3 to 4 Hours

Cost: Visits cost £200+VAT for state schools and £240+VAT for independent schools, for each class, up to 30 pupils. Teachers and supervising adults free of charge.

Session schedule

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
Exhibition Encounter AMArt Detective and Design ApprenticeArt Detective and Design ApprenticeExhibition Encounters AM
Tailored Key Stage 4 sessionsTailored Key Stage 4 sessionsDesign Apprentice

A day at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village includes:

  • All materials for sketching and your chosen workshop
  • A covered lunch space within our woodland
  • Free teacher pre-visit when arranged by appointment

Once we have received your enquiry form, (Please allow five working days for us to respond to your initial enquiry) we will check, and hopefully confirm a date with you before drawing up a Booking Form, which will include a detailed timetable and further practical details for you.

We require at least one month’s advance notice and for bookings made 3 or more months in advance, we will require a £50 deposit.

Teacher’s Portal

Upon booking, a link will be shared for you to access documents relating to our site, including a site map, parking instructions and our Risk Assessment.

What Teachers say about us

"We really enjoyed the experience. The day was full of great information and the workshops were brilliant. Children really enjoyed the day and were exposed to art that they would not usually get an opportunity to see."

~ Teacher at Cherrywood community primary school, visited in June 2024

"Thank you for a fantastic trip to the Watts Gallery - I was so impressed by the resources that the gallery offered. Staff were incredibly kind and knowledgeable. The sculpture workshop was superb! The [students] loved it and I will be bringing future classes along to visit the gallery! The best trip I have been on in my 4 years of teaching!! Thank you so much!"

~ Primary school teacher, visited in June 2022

"We had a fantastic day; it was very well organised and kept the students on their toes with activities. The tour was great, and we learnt so much. Watts Gallery has so much to offer, I will definitely be coming back."

~ Student from Farnborough College of Technology, visited in March 2023

Working with Watts

Creative partnerships

If you are interested in finding out about further information on the following partnerships, please contact us through schools@wattsgallery.org.uk

Delight in Watts
We are part of Delight in Watts; an arts-based learning programme run by Delight charity, in partnership with Watts Gallery – Artists' Village, Paintbox and selected primary schools across Surrey.

Arts Awards
We are an Arts Award centre and Artsmark partner. Contact us to find out more about how we can support your students to achieve Arts Award qualifications and your school on your Artsmark journey.

Teachers CPD

We can devise bespoke training days for your department or whole school, which can be conducted in school or at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village. All sessions are developed collaboratively with you; responding to your school ethos, curriculum, drawing on our collection, local heritage and expertise, to develop a tailored CPD course.

Through a creativity and inspiring programme of activities, teachers and educators will be supported and guided during sessions and develop the tools to engage, inspire and challenge their pupils within Art and Design.

What we offer

Sessions focus on participants gaining confidence in visual literacy skills through both viewing and analysing art, which can then translate into the classroom. If at the gallery, these techniques would be addressed on interactive tours and include suggestions of props and activities to make meaning from visual information.

Following this, a practical, studio-based activity supports participants in developing confidence in creating and making with materials. This is achieved through a creative workshop led by one of our Freelance Artist Educators, who will share knowledge of delivery techniques for back in the classroom with children. We offer a range of specialisms including printmaking, pottery and sculpture. In addition, experimental sketching in the gallery is a fantastic way for the group to encounter different approaches to sketching and observational drawing to build confidence and resilience.

Number of Participants:
Minimum cost based on 10 participants
Duration of Session:
Can be flexible and range form from 1.5 to 4 hours, to be discussed upon booking.
Cost:
From £35+VAT per participant, inclusive of materials and resources. The cost of the sessions will vary depending on the duration and details of the tailored sessions.

Please call or email schools@wattsgallery.org.uk to discuss options and prices.

"The sessions were excellent and so lovely to be able to work with the artist and get hands on. All the team enjoyed it and even though there were a couple who felt a little out of their comfort zone, I think this was really positive. It helped them to remember that many people feel that way when taking part in science, so a great thinking point for the team. Thank you as well for taking the time to host the discussion at the end, I think a lot of the group were surprised that arts educators face the same challenges as science educators - so overall a brilliant way to get everyone thinking".
– Physics Outreach Officer Group

Classroom resources

Resources can be found on our Learning Resource page.

Work experience

We are now closed for applications for Summer 2024 and are reviewing our work experience offer for next year. If you are looking for something slightly different, and are aged 16 or over, why not take a look at volunteering with us. Please look at what our previous Work Experience Students had to say about their time with us!

Work experience at Watts Gallery

We are now closed for applications for Summer 2024 and are reviewing our work experience offer for next year. If you are looking for something slightly different, and are aged 16 or over, why not take a look at volunteering with us. Please look at what our previous Work Experience Students had to say about their time with us!