Members trained as guides provide informative tours of the museum and its collection of over 90 vehicles plus many ancillary artifacts. The number of guides that we provide is determined by the size of the visiting school group: about 20 is an ideal number per guide. Teachers can therefore relax to some extent: our experienced guides provide the lesson and teachers help with marshalling, and perhaps deciding when a toilet stop might be needed.

Risk Assessment:
An essential preliminary to any school visit is our standard Risk Assessment form, provided to the school at the time of making the booking. Or, click here to down load the form in PDF format. Some schools will have their own risk assessment form, which we can complete and return.

Getting There:
Most groups arrive by charter bus. Contact the State Transit Authority (STA) or your local bus company to get the best quote. Public transport is close by: train by the Illawarra Line to Tempe Station and a 200-metre walk. STA bus route 422 terminates at the Museum

Group Size:
On our normal opening Wednesdays there is no minimum group size. We can open on any other weekday if there are at least 40 students. Maximum group size can be as many as 200, but 100 is an easier number. All groups are divided between guides so that each tour party consists of about 20 to 25 max. In some cases, schools arrange to split a very large group between our Museum and Tarmac Tours, who provide tours of Sydney Airport: half the group comes to us, half to the Airport and then the interchange is achieved using one or more of our vintage double deckers. Airside Tarmac Tours are on the web at www.airsidetarmactours.com or phone 02 8338 8414.

The Tour:
According to age group, the guided tour will be shorter or longer, with close attention paid to the attention span of the students. Within the Museum are working displays of sectioned mechanical components, such as engines and gearboxes. These are of interest to later S1 students, to demonstrate how the noisy engine gets its power to the wheels. ES1 groups may be happy simply to see where the driver gets in, how a conductor works, and a rendition of The Wheels of the Bus, with accompanying sound effects or actions, goes down very well. A part of the museum is devoted to the Workshop, where restorations are always being performed; a clear idea of the construction of a bus body and the layout of parts is gained.

The Bus Ride:
At some point during the Museum visit, all groups are taken for a double decker bus ride to Sydney Airport and back. One bus will seat up to 60 students. If so arranged, this ride will take our Museum group to its rendezvous with Tarmac Tours, and bring the other half of the whole group to its Museum tour.

Recess / Lunch:
Can be taken at the Museum, using available seating. Please advise us ahead if this is an option, so we can set up accordingly.

Syllabus Areas Addressed :
Generally our tours are of value to ES1 (Early Stage 1) and S1 (Stage 1) students. The Key Learning Areas are the Transport Unit of HSIE, and in Science and Technology, the “Getting About” and “Out and About” units.

Materials Provided:
To assist Revision and Catch-up, we provide a small kit of materials to each student, including a short Q and A paper, and an outline drawing of a double decker which can be coloured-in, and have features added such as local routes and destinations.

The Collection:
Given the ages of the students no attempt is made to cover the entire collection of buses and trucks dating from early 20th century to the 1980s. Emphasis is placed on how people use public transport, and the development over the years of front-engined single deckers, to the classic double decker, to rear engined buses, and the appearance and then disappearance of the conductor.

Cost:
Currently $7.70 per student. Teachers and any accompanying parents are free.

Time Taken:
The tour including bus ride will take a minimum of 1 1/2 hours. However time should be allowed for use of the toilets, and larger groups will take longer, as the students are regrouped after being split into smaller groups for the guided tour.