Ice skating in London

IH London students on ice

The dark nights are drawing in and the temperature is dropping, which can only mean one thing - it's time to wrap up warm and head to London's winter ice rinks.

There are few better ways to enjoy winter and keep warm in the city than by getting your skates on and hitting the ice - sometimes literally!

Get your skates on with International House London

The Social Programme team at International House London have organised two trips to London's best ice rinks this winter.

• Somerset House Ice Rink
  3:30pm, 22 November 2012
• Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park
  2:30pm, 03 December 2012

Visit the Social Programme desk on the ground floor at International House London to find out more and book a place on these ice skating trips.

Booking, timetables and locations for ice rinks in London 

If you can't make Social Programme dates, or you miss out on a place, there are plenty of options and opportunities to organise your own trip.

Below you'll find information on venues, prices and timetables to organise your own ice skating outing.

• Somerset House Ice Rink
• Hampton Court Ice Rink
•  Tower of London Ice Rink
• Natural History Museum Ice Rink
• London Eye Ice Rink
• Hyde Park Winter Wonderland Ice Age 4 Ice Skating Rink
• Canary Wharf Ice Rink

Ice skating venues around London

Students skating at Somerset House 

You can wrap up like a mammoth to ice skate in front of the Natural History Museum, ice dance around Somerset House ice rink, slip and slide around Hyde Park ice rink, skate under the skyscrapers at Canary Wharf ice rink, run royal ice rinks around your friends at Hampton Court and hold onto your head at the Tower of London ice rink.

All venues provide ice skates as part of the booking, you can take your own if you've got them, some run classes and offer discounts for group bookings.

Ice rings in London start to open in the middle of November and most stay open until early January, one or two until March.

Many venues have other winter events going on and  most have cafes and bars serving food and drinks – from hot chocolate to mulled wine (if you drink alcohol we recommend trying mulled cider too) to warm you up and help you wind down after your time on ice.

Learn a language and experience London

International House London has been welcoming students from all over the world for 50 years. Based in the heart of London we offer a range language and teacher training courses, fantastic facilities and great social activities.

• Find out more about International House London

IH London makes a song and dance for Children in Need

During November students and teachers at IH London raised money for Children in Need.
 
The fun started with a charity bakesale and ended with the fantastic IH's Got Talent show - with lots of raffles and games inbetween! These events raised £1308.79 for Children in Need - the amount was doubled by IH London to £2617.58. Check out our photos and videos below for some of the highlights.

Fun at the Bakesake

IH London teacher Chris poses with the fantastic Children in Need cakes. The perfect combination - eating cakes and raising money for charity!

How IH London raised £2390.40 for the Japanese Red Cross!

Here's IH London student Tomoko outside the Japanese Embassy yesterday. Tomoko and Nobuyuki from Student Services were at the Embassy to present a cheque for £2390.40 to the Japanese Red Cross relief appeal.


To raise the money IH London students and staff got together for a special Help Japan event at the school. It was a chance to try out our origami and calligraphy skills, to play games (picking up beads with chopsticks is as hard as you'd think), to sing karaoke and to eat sushi and specially decorated cupcakes.


Check out the IH London photostream for more photos of the afternoon. There was also a raffle with some impressive prizes that went a long way to helping us raise £1465.20 on the day. Then IH London matched that amount bringing us to our grand total.

All around the event, students and staff displayed pictures and videos to show how Japan was affected by the disaster. The images were a reminder of why raising money was so important - and a worthwhile reason to buy more cupcakes.

IH's Got Talent

Two weeks ago, IH London teachers and students took part in a fantastic show: IH's Got Talent. Expertly hosted by two of our English teachers, with a panel of three tough judges, and a huge audience of adoring fans, it was the event of the year!

Talented performers

Highlights of the show included an all-signing, all-dancing teachers' girl band; a rival teacher's boy band; an Italian kick boxer; a German opera singer; a Korean band; and a French guitarist. You can watch all the performers in our video of the event:

Raising Money for Charity

The audience voted for their favourite act by making a donation to Children In Need. The act with most donations won - a heartfelt duet by two Korean students. You can see their winning performance at 01:27 into the video.

The Talent Show raised over £1,000 in votes and DVD sales after the event. The following week, the IH London teachers baked a huge selection of cakes to sell to students, raising another £400 for Children In Need!

The grand total of money raised is now £1,500, which the school has pledged to match! That means we'll be giving £3,000 to Children In Need - what a fantastic result!!