Arrival Times
When you book your school visit, you will be asked to book a particular session time, with a start and end time. Based on your booking, we will reserve the different areas for you at particular time slots during your chosen session time. This ensures that only one school group at a time is ever in a gallery, however it also means that we may not be able to accommodate any last-minute changes to your schedule, if this affects another group’s schedule.
We recommend arriving 15 minutes before the start of your booked session, so as not to miss any part of it. This will give you enough time to register at reception and prepare for your first activity.
If you arrive late, unfortunately it may not be possible to make up for the lost time. Please phone ahead and advise Esplora reception if your group is running late due to transport problems.
If you arrive earlier or stay later than your booking times, we may not be able to accommodate you on busy days, so it’s best to always check with the bookings office before altering your pick-up or drop-off times with your transport provider.
Stay safe!
Ask your bus driver to use our private service road so that your students can safely disembark directly onto the pavement.
Immediately move your students to the side and out of the way, as other schools may be arriving at the same time.
If you are bringing students who are in Kinder 1, Kinder 2 or Year 1, please wait to be guided inside by Esplora staff, as we have alternative entrances to avoid having very young children on the escalator. Please line them up along the wall so that they are a safe distance from the road.
Older students from Year 2 upwards can use the escalator (or the lift behind it) to come to the reception desk in the Hub. We suggest that the first person to go up the escalator should be an adult, who should ensure that students at the top do not block the way for the rest of the students coming up. Our escalators are equipped with emergency stop buttons at the top and bottom, just in case.
Meeting your Explainer
One adult from your school group should register your group at Reception, while in the meantime the other adults may be guided to move your group to the side or to a waiting area to avoid blocking the way out of the Hub.
At this point you will meet the Explainer who will be facilitating your visit to Esplora.
The Explainer is your partner in making this a great experience for your students, so please share any objectives you may have in mind for your visit.
Starting your visit
The Explainer will greet you and give you (the adult leader) a copy of your visit schedule, which will include a time slot for each of your booked activities. Unfortunately we cannot provide a schedule in advance, however all of your booked activities will be included, as well as a break for eating.
The Explainer will briefly remind your students of the Health and Safety section in the orientation video, and escort you to the first location on your schedule.
If you have booked an Exhibition space, the Explainer will collect and store the students’ bags at the entrance. This is optional for adults and for students with special needs. Since the exhibits are interactive and often require the use of two hands, we recommend that students carry as little as possible with them – food and drink are not allowed in Exhibition spaces, and we recommend against carrying notebooks or clipboards because they get in the way of using the exhibits.