Planning your trip
BEFORE YOUR VISIT
Pre-planning trip
We encourage those who have made a booking to come on a pre-planning visit, to get familiarised with the site and complete a risk assessment. Please book your pre-planning visit by emailing your name, date of the visit, and booking reference to jodrelleducation@manchester.ac.uk
If coming on a pre-planning trip, your admission will be free of charge. If you will be combining your planning trip with a general visit, admission charges apply to any accompanying visitors.
Jodrell Bank site map
You can download a map of the Jodrell Bank site here:
Risk assessments
All available risk assessments can be downloaded here:
- General Risk Assessment for Jodrell Bank School Trips
- Space Dome Risk Assessment
- Key Stage 3 & 4 led session Risk Assessment
Additional documents
Special Educational Needs
At the point of booking, we will ask you if any of your students have accessibility or special educational needs (SEN). You can also contact us in advance to help ensure your students get the most out of their day. For more information our Access Statement is here.
Your itinerary
You will receive a detailed itinerary one week before your visit.
During your trip your group(s) will be timetabled for:
- 10am arrival.
- A session in the Space Dome (according to the Key Stage of the group).
- A lunch slot.
- Time to explore our exhibition spaces (self-guided time).
- 2pm departure.
If you have booked for more than one group, each group will follow a separate itinerary during the day. It is important that you are as prompt as possible for any Explainer-led session and your lunch slot as other groups are also likely to be scheduled in during the day.
We will try our best to work around any unforeseen circumstances during the day. This may include altering your itinerary. However, please note that if your group’s arrival is delayed, we are unable to delay start times for Explainer-led sessions.
Worksheets
Please note that apart from any Explainer-led sessions, your visit will be self-guided. To help you around our exhibitions, we have created a set of worksheets that you can download, print, and bring with you on the day (don’t forget to bring pencils or pens!).
YOUR VISIT
What to bring on the day
- Your itinerary – this will be sent to you via email before your trip
- Worksheets – these will help your learners gain more from the exhibitions and can be downloaded from our website ahead of your visit
- Packed lunches – we recommend reusable lunch boxes to cut down on single-use waste. Please note, our lunch trolleys are not big enough to hold full group set of backpacks
- Weather appropriate clothes for learners to explore our outside areas
- For young groups arriving on coaches, we also advise you bring at least one set of spare clothes in case someone gets travel sick.
Getting to us & access to the site
You can find directions here. The postcode to use for sat-navs is SK11 9DW and our entrance lies on Bomish Lane, just off the A535.
Coaches can park on the left-hand side of the car park, along the green fence line. Coach drivers are given free admission to Jodrell Bank for the day.
Upon arrival
Upon arrival, please head to the Planet Pavilion sign-in your group. Please note, we cannot allow your group into Jodrell Bank before 10am. If you arrive early, please wait on the coach, or start gathering your group in front of the entrance.
Lunch
Your group will be allocated a 45 minute lunch slot in one of our indoor picnic areas. The time and location will be stated in your itinerary.
Please be as prompt as possible as other groups will likely be booked in before or after you.
- Upon arrival, your group can store their lunches in one of our lunch trolleys.
- We recommend bringing lunches in reusable lunch boxes to cut down on single-use waste.
- Please note our trolleys are not big enough to hold a full group set of backpacks.
- Please do not store any valuable is the trolley.
- As you make your way to your allocated lunch area, we ask for an adult member of the group to collect the trolley from the storage area.
- We will provide you a bin bags for your lunch waste. After your lunch, we ask to please place your bin bag in the trolley.
- We kindly ask that an adult member of your group returns your trolley to the storage area.
If your group would prefer to eat outside, we have plenty of outdoor picnic spaces available around the site which you are welcome to use.
Our café will be available for adult members of the group to purchase food or drinks. Please note there may be a wait, especially during busy times.
Toilets
Toilets (including accessible facilities) are available in each of our buildings. Please note the number of toilets in each building is limited; you may find it easier to split your group and visit different buildings.
First Aid
If any of your group should require first aid, please contact a member of staff. There are always first aiders on site during opening hours and they can provide assistance. Our site is also equipped with two automatic defibrillators.
Please do not use your mobile phones. If you need to use a phone, please see a member of our staff, who will help you.
WHAT’S HERE?
Jodrell Bank consists of:
- Four buildings: the First Light Pavilion, the Planet Pavilion, the Space Pavilion, and the Star Pavilion
- A large outdoor area surrounding the Lovell telescope
- 35 acres of gardens and grounds, including a playground
- The giant Lovell Telescope!
Please note:
- We are open to the public from 10am to 5pm daily, so your group will likely be sharing our spaces with other people.
- The Lovell telescope is sometimes undergoing maintenance; during these times it will not be observing or moving.
- The observatory is a working environment and the Lovell telescope is in use 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The First Light Pavilion
This is our newest building, containing exhibitions related to the history of Jodrell Bank, and our new Space Dome. It also contains the First Light Café and a temporary exhibitions space.
During your visit, your group will have times to freely explore the First Light Pavilion exhibition.
The Planet Pavilion
This building contains the Planet Café, the gift shop and an exhibition space with Clockwork Orrery; a clockwork mechanism representing the Sun and planets in our Solar System, illustrating the position, size, and motions of the planets. During your visit, your group will have times to freely explore this space.
The Space Pavilion
This building contains an interactive exhibition about the science of Jodrell Bank.
During your visit, your group will have times to freely explore the exhibition which consists of:
- A live data feed from the Lovell telescope
- A hands-on model of the Lovell telescope
- Interactive interviews with some of the scientists and engineers who work at Jodrell Bank
- An infrared thermal camera
- The gravity well; a hands-on model of a black hole
- The ‘Big Bang cone’ playing the ‘sound’ of the first 100 million years from real data
- A usable, see-through Newtonian telescope
- Information about the biggest telescopes around the world
The Star Pavilion
The Star Pavilion holds the Wolfson Auditorium, which is only used for events and activities. There are no exhibitions in this building.
Outside exhibits
Jodrell Bank has a number of outdoor exhibits and activities that you can explore as part of a self-guided visit. Remember to bring weather-appropriate clothes.
Our outdoor exhibits include:
- The Telescope Pathway: Follow the path around the base of the Lovell telescope and find information boards that will give information about the construction of the telescope and objects it observes.
- Outdoor experiments: See how curved shapes can amplify faint signals with our Whispering dishes, experiment with gravity just like Galileo, or find out more about Jupiter’s rotation.
- Exhibition pathway – Follow the path displaying images that illustrate Jodrell Bank at work, including the role of the telescope and what it takes to run the observatory 365 days a year.
Gardens and Grounds
Jodrell Bank is a 35 acre green site with gardens, wildlife areas and an Arboretum. You will not be allocated time in the grounds as part of your itinerary. However, you are welcome to stay later to explore them. If doing this, please allow the extra time you need.
Gift Shop
Our gift shop is situated in Planet Pavilion. School groups are very welcome to browse and buy. We ask for large group to split into groups of no more than 20 before entering the shop, and students must be accompanied by an adult. Please note, the gift shop is generally busy at the end of the school visits (13:45-14:00). We recommend visiting the shop during your lunch break or exhibition time when possible, to make your experience more enjoyable.
PLEASE REMEMBER
Your role on the day
Children must be accompanied by responsible adults for the duration of your visit. Please also ensure the ratio of accompanying adults to children is appropriate for your group, and in line with relevant institution policies. If the person who booked the trip is not attending on the day, the organiser must ensure all relevant information relating to the trip is passed to the relevant staff.
Before your visit, discuss appropriate conduct with young learners. Any learners observed behaving dangerously will be challenged and if necessary, prevented from further participation in any activity.
Please be aware we operate CCTV on this site, and we reserve the right to charge visitors for any damage that is caused intentionally to our buildings, site, exhibits and fixtures and fittings.
Young learners must be always accompanied by an adult. In the instance of a young learner becoming separated from the group leaders, contact a member of staff. Brief your group that if they become separated, they should ask a uniformed member of staff for help and stay with them. Jodrell Bank staff are aware of safeguarding requirements when helping young people separated from their group. Ensure everyone is present before leaving the site.
Mobile phones
Mobile phones interfere with our radio telescopes, which are in use 24 hours a day. We therefore operate a radio-quiet policy and require that all visitors set their phones to flight mode, or switch them off.
If you may need to be contacted during the day, please give out our main reception line: 01477 571 766. Our staff will then relay the message to you. Similarly, if you need to make a call during your visit, you are welcome to use one of our landlines; simply ask a member of our staff.
You are still welcome to use your mobile to take photos; provided it is set to flight mode.
Film and Photography
You’re welcome to document your experience via film and photography. We trust that you have secured your own permissions for this and remember you may be in a session with another school group where students may not have given consent. Please also note that we do not permit filming of our Explainer-led sessions and Space Dome shows.
