School trips to CERN

Why visit CERN?

Visit the world’s largest particle physics laboratory!

Inspire your students with a school trip to CERN, where they’ll explore the largest particle physics laboratory in the world!

Founded in 1954, the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) was created to answer some of the most fundamental questions regarding our universe – namely, what is the universe made of?

Using purpose-built colliders, such as the world-famous Large Hadron Collider, the scientists at CERN make subatomic particles collide with each other at close to the speed of light. They then use detectors to see how the particles interact and this tells them more about the fundamental laws of nature.

On your educational visit to CERN, you’ll enjoy a 3-hour tour of the laboratory site in Geneva, spanning the Franco-Swiss border. Your tour will start with a video introduction to CERN. You’ll then be able to visit two areas of the site, such as control rooms, research facilities or engineering facilities.

You’ll also be able to explore the two permanent exhibitions, where you’ll see a scale version of the Large Hadron Collider (unfortunately, the real one isn’t open to the public) and you’ll find out more about the scientists who created and maintain it.

Show them where science could take them

This is a fantastic option for a science school trip, as it will help your students to understand why science is such an important and exciting subject. Scientists, like those at CERN, are literally discovering what our universe is made of and how it works. No other subject can lead to a job where you get to discover the secrets of our world in quite the same way as science!

Your students will find your school visit to CERN an incredibly exciting experience. It will help them to better understand the importance of physics in the real world.

For GCSE students, your school trip to CERN will help them to better understand the structure, bonding and the properties of matter. And for A-Level students, this is an unmissable visit that will bring nuclear physics and particle theory to life for them.

Explore Geneva too!

Of course, most groups who choose to visit CERN do so as part of their science school trip to Geneva.

That’s because Geneva offers a number of other interesting science attractions, including the History of Science Museum.

Your students will also have the opportunity to learn more about some really important international organisations, with visits to the United Nations Office at Geneva and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum.