Planning your class visit
Image credit: Photo by Mark Beatty. National Library of New Zealand. CC BY 4.0. Used with permission.
Note our group size and supervision ratio requirements for school visits to He Tohu Wellington. Read some tips for your visit. Explore our online resources.
Supervision ratio and guidelines
Primary and intermediate schools — maximum of 30 students per booking, plus a minimum of 4 adults (1:8 supervision ratio).
Secondary schools — maximum of 30 students per booking, plus a minimum of 2 adults (1:15 supervision ratio).
Read our risk assessment management strategies (RAMS)
Expectations of our visitors
We require teachers to stay with their students for the entire time they are visiting He Tohu and the wider National Library.
Teachers must manage their students’ behaviour so that our staff can focus on providing a high-quality guided experience.
Before our tours begin, take a moment to gather your students and reinforce your expectations and school values.
Our guided experiences
Allow a minimum of 75 minutes for your visit to He Tohu — for your guided tour and any questions afterwards.
Help us to make your visit rewarding
To help us meet any specific needs, let us know ahead of time:
what your class has been studying
your learning outcomes for the visit
if your students require in-depth information or analysis — so we can research and prepare
if you wish to co-teach during the visit to help consolidate students’ understanding and make links between classroom learning and the documents.
We invite your group to engage as richly as possible with the experience of visiting He Tohu and the National Library. This could involve preparing a mihi on behalf of the school or performing waiata.
Find out more
If you'd like to discuss your class needs or find out more, email bookings@hetohu.nz.
When to arrive, if plans change
Please arrive 10 minutes before the scheduled start time of your visit. If you're running late, phone 0800 474 300 (then select option 6) to let our reception staff know.
When you arrive, one of our learning facilitators will welcome you and ākonga at Waka (reception) on the ground floor. We have storage for school bags.
Unforeseen circumstances may require us to change the timing and duration of a guided experience without ample warning.
After your visit
We'd love to get your feedback. Your suggestions and comments do make a difference.
Please email your feedback to contact@hetohu.nz.
Online resources to explore before or after your visit
Learning activities — use these activities to inspire and inform ākonga as they explore concepts related to He Whakaputanga, Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Women's Suffrage Petition.
Explore He Tohu with your students — teaching and learning resources to support the He Tohu exhibition. Find books, activities and more.
He Tohu workbooks — check out our workbooks designed to help ākonga explore the documents in He Tohu.
