School Visits

Taskmaster Education at English Heritage

Calling all Taskmaster fans! We’ve teamed up with Taskmaster Education to make your school trip even more engaging. Find out how you can use one of our task packs on your school visit to get your students working collaboratively, thinking creatively and, most of all, having fun.

New to Taskmaster?

Watch this video to find out more.

Taskmaster is the BAFTA winning, Channel 4 show where comedians are set a range of weird and wonderful challenges to complete in order to impress Greg Davies, the Taskmaster. Taskmaster Education take the format and use it to develop problem solving, reasoning, creativity and much more, in young people. We’ve teamed up with them to create printable task packs with a selection of fun tasks for students to do when they visit English Heritage sites.

What to Expect

Each task pack includes all the information you need to get ready to task, rules to help your tasks run smoothly and a score sheet in case you want to keep count. To give you an idea of what you can expect, some examples of the tasks are below. The activities are self-led, so you can adapt the tasks to best suit your group on the day.

Example One: Act out a ridiculous duel (a historical fight between two people). You may use slow motion, sound effects and dramatic death scenes. You may not touch the other person.

Example Two: Walk from one part of the abbey to another in the slowest, most dramatic monk-like procession possible. Extra points for synchronisation.

Example Three: Invent a formal dance to be done at the hall or house. It must include three slow moves and a ridiculous bow.

Example Four: Estimate the height of the tallest part of the building using the most creative unit of measurement.

 

 

How to Take Part

Find your local site and follow the link below to download our resources. You will be asked what kind of tasks you need, depending on the site you will be visiting (Abbeys & Priories, Castles & Forts, Halls & Houses, Roman or Prehistoric). The relevant task pack will then be emailed to you, and you will be ready to start tasking!

Keep the Fun Going Back at School

You can can to run your own Taskmaster Club in school. The show’s creator, Alex Horne, becomes your assistant on screen, while you take on the role of the all-powerful Taskmaster.

To find out more about the club and if your school is eligible for School Tasking, visit the Taskmaster Education website. 

 

Find Out More

Frequently Asked Questions

We've answered some frequently asked questions below, but there is more detail about organising your day in your pack.

  • What do I need to bring with me?

    All the tasks are designed to be done with no extra resources, so just bring your copy of the tasks (with all-important scorecard provided) and plenty of enthusiasm.

  • Who will be the Taskmaster?

    Your Taskmaster could be a member of staff or a student, it will be up to you to nominate. The Taskmaster is responsible for giving task instructions and deciding the number of points scored, so choose wisely.

  • Which English Heritage sites can I task at?

    You can task at any of our sites, so please ensure you choose the correct task themes for your site when requesting your pack e.g. Castles & Forts. (A small number of our sites don’t fit the themes, but all the packs include generic tasks so you can choose any pack and still join in the fun.)

  • How long will the tasks take?

    There are guideline timings for each task, ranging from 5 to 20 minutes, but these may vary depending on your group. Choose as many or as few tasks as you like, to suit your visit timings.

  • Where will this take place?

    There are no designated tasking areas on site, so you can choose the most suitable area to do the tasks on the day. We encourage you to have fun, but please do be mindful of other visitors and the historic environment. There are also tasks for on the coach, at lunchtime and post-visit, so the fun can last all day.

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