An Old Edinburgh school tour with our teacher/tour guide!

Tours for schools

Take your learning outdoors with our teacher-designed and led Old Edinburgh activity tours

5 star rated on Tripadvisor

We were winners in Edinburgh of a Traveller's Choice award in 2020

Take your learning outdoors with our teacher-designed and led activity tours

Edinburgh was the stage for many fascinating episodes in Scotland’s history. Your guide, Robert, will take your classes on a carefully planned exploration of places directly linked to the project your class is undertaking. He’s a primary school teacher with over twenty-four years of classroom teaching experience.

Robert will use various props, A3 pictures and evidence sheets with your class, encouraging your pupils to use the evidence to make assumptions about the past.

There’s nothing quite as motivating as learning about history at the very places in which it happened. Our images and laminated sheets will help your pupils understand how your tour area has changed over time. We’re expert storytellers and will immerse your pupils in the lives of the people who once lived here. Images, props, and historical evidence are all used to give your class a clear understanding of the past.

Come with us as we explore Edinburgh’s history!

A wee video about our tours for schools

We're currently working on producing a new video for this space. Please check back soon!

June 7, 2022

What have teachers said about our Edinburgh history tours for schools?

A terrific tour that brought learning about Old Edinburgh to Life!

Today was a good day. 2 years to the day since the schools closed for Lockdown 1 and I was back, out and about on a school trip with my class of 9 year olds. The sun was shining and Mr Howie, our very knowledgeable (he is a fully qualified teacher don’t you know) and entertaining tour guide was leading us around the streets of Old Edinburgh enabling us to find out how people lived (and died) in Edinburgh hundreds of years ago.
The tour lasted for two hours but the time flew by with Mr Howie telling tales of old and providing the children (32 of them!) with a selection of primary and secondary sources so they could be the history detectives and investigate dark goings on with torture, body snatchers, ‘rubbish’ walls, explosions, Royal visits and quite a bit about poo too.
I cannot recommend this tour highly enough for any educator studying the local history of this city with children at first or second level (ks1 and ks2). Reliable and unreliable sources? Check! Primary and secondary sources? Check! Compare and contrast society then and now? Check! Interpret historical evidence? Check!
The tour that really does tick all the boxes. And it’s fun too!

MissFMorse- Tripadvisor review - March 2022

Fantastic Tour for Schools

My Primary 5 class and I had a fantastic experience on Robert's walking tour. It was engaging, well organised and brilliantly resourced. The tour complimented our Old Edinburgh topic perfectly, being immersed in the history of the city and using different sources providing a rich context for learning. Robert was incredibly knowledgeable and supported pupils in being scrupulous history detectives. Following 2 years without excursions, the pupils were so excited to be learning in the real world and thoroughly enjoyed this experience. It was appropriate and well pitched to pupils in second level. I would highly recommend this tour. Thank you Robert, hopefully the pupils will see you again to learn about the Jacobites!

Miss A Wittland- Tripadvisor review - April 2022

Choose from our range of school activity tours of Edinburgh

CFE 'First level' Castle project tour

Perfect for an early years class studying castles and castle life!

Your guide will take your pupils on a learning journey all about ‘castles’. We’ll look at a castle's structure, what makes it a ‘castle’ and not merely a ‘house’, and we will use laminated cards to work out how we would defend or attack a castle. Usually, we recommend Craigmillar Castle. This is a brilliant place to explore and is considerably quieter than Edinburgh Castle.

Please note that your booking fee for the castle is not part of our fee.

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CFE 'First level' Old Edinburgh tour

Perfect for an early years class that has been studying Old Edinburgh.

Your pupils will work with partners to use different types of evidence such as old maps, archive images, cartoons and the streets as well as buildings we will see around us.

We’ll look at stories of famous Edinburgh people buried in the Kirkyard; we’ll visit the site of a long-lost prison and explore an Old Town close. This one and a half-hour activity tour includes stories about Greyfriars Bobby, Deacon Brodie and Mary Queen of Scots.

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CFE 'Second level' Old Edinburgh tour

Our Second Level tour will take your class on an evidence-exploring journey around parts of the Old Town.
Pupils will work in pairs to analyse and evaluate different pieces of historical evidence. They’ll have opportunities to check and critique the accuracy of various sources of evidence as they walk the streets of Old Edinburgh.

Your class will explore Greyfriars Kirkyard, visit the Grassmarket, West Bow and Royal Mile and an Old Town close. We may even be able to attempt a recreation of the old prison!

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CFE 'Second level' Mary, Queen of Scots tour

Perfect for an older primary class who have been studying Mary, Queen of Scots.

Take your class back in time to the Edinburgh, which Mary, Queen of Scots, would have known. Your pupils will use a variety of pieces of historical evidence to help discover the stories of Mary’s past.

We’ll see where she spent some of her childhood, we’ll walk the very streets she’d have known and we will even see a replica of her tomb! We’ll also get an opportunity to visit the site of Kirk o’Field - the location of the assassination of Mary’s second husband!

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CFE 'Second level' Jacobites project tour

Perfect for a P5-7 class who has been studying the Jacobite Rebellions or Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Your class will tour the places that were important in the final Jacobite Rebellion. They will use various pieces of evidence to discover what Edinburgh was like in 1745, how the Jacobite army took the city and how the Hanoverians and Jacobites within Edinburgh acted during this period.

We’ll learn about some of the important people, both men and women, who played a part in this exciting moment in Scotland’s history. Your learning will take place at the actual sites where history happened!

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CFE 'Second level' Victorian Edinburgh tour

Perfect for classes who have been studying the Victorians or a topic on 'inequality'.

There are so many resources that look at the lives of the rich and famous…this tour looks the other side of the story.

Edinburgh’s Old Town was effectively a slum dwelling. This tour will take your class right into the heart of the most impoverished areas. Your pupils will use various pieces of historical evidence to unravel the forgotten stories of people who struggled to survive in a society that did little for them. Your class will also learn about history and citizenship issues relevant to today's community.

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Our most popular prop... Our fake 'poo' is the prop which gets the most comments!	It's not all about listening to Robert! Waiting for a 'think, pair, share' moment to conclude on our Victorian Edinburgh tour.	Testing thumbscrews in Greyfriars Kirkyard. We use props in all of our tours.	The Tolbooth. Recreating the Tolbooth Prison in Parliament Square.	The Flodden Wall. Taking a close look at Edinburgh's defences on our Bonnie Prince Charlie in Edinburgh tour.	Recreating the prison. If it's quiet, we'll recreate the Tolbooth Prison on our First and Second Level Old Edinburgh tours.	St Mary's Street. Comparing an old map to today's street.
Comparing Victoria Street with the old West Bow. We use archive images and documents on all of our tours.	Happy faces in Greyfriars Kirkyard! Studying old Edinburgh IN old Edinburgh!