Press Releases
St Thomas Community Primary set up home at the National Waterfront Museum
Date:
2016-03-29Reception pupils at St Thomas Community Primary in Swansea have recently been engaging and discovering the wonders of the National Waterfront Museum as part of a national King’s College London innovation project.
The pupils – aged 4 and 5– have spent the last term (from 22 February) undertaking learning activities at the city-based Museum and a second group will take part in the project from May.
My Primary School is at the Museum takes the school classes directly into museum for their day-to-day programme of lessons, including lunches and breaks, offering a different experience from the more usual, occasional museum visit.
This pilot will be used to assess the benefits and logistics of a partnership model which could in the future help address some of the funding issues faced by both the education and museum sector as well as provide learning and audience engagement benefits for both parties.
The idea was conceived by Wendy James, Architect and Partner of Garbers & James Architects. Garbers & James is an architectural practice specialising in the public cultural sector and Wendy’s extensive experience is particularly focussed on museums and education. The idea was then tested in an ideas laboratory run by the Cultural Institute at King’s College London, and supported under the Institute’s Cultural Space Programme strand.
Katherine Bond, Director of the Cultural Institute at King’s College London said: “It is the remit of the Cultural Institute to inspire, facilitate and support collaborations between King’s and the cultural sector that have impact beyond the university, stimulating knowledge exchange, developing research and driving innovation. We are proud to have realised My Primary School is at the Museum which looks set to achieve all of these things.”
Speaking about the project so far, Learning Officer at the National Waterfront Museum Leisa Bryant said: “It has been a fantastic opportunity to be a part of this pilot project with St Thomas Community Primary and share the exciting stories of our collections with them.
“The class have been able to learn about history, science, numeracy and literacy by focusing on elements of our exhibitions, participating in workshops and through handling real objects.”
Head Teacher, Russell Dwyer of St Thomas Community Primary said: “It is an honour to have been invited to take part in this exciting and innovative national research project with the National Waterfront Museum and King’s College London.
“While the prospect of moving a class to the Museum for five weeks seemed quite a challenging one at first, it has actually been seamless and the children have clearly benefitted from the wealth of experiences offered to them. I have no doubt it will be something which the children will remember forever.”
ENDS
Notes to editor
Other schools taking part in the pilot project include:
- Kensington Children’s Centre, a pre-school nursery (children age 3 – 4), who will be based at Tate Liverpool from 29 February to 11 March.
- A year 5 group (children age 9 – 10) from Hadrian Primary School in South Shields who have been based at Arbeia Roman Fort in South Tyneside since January this year.
For further details about the National Waterfront Museum, contact Marie Szymonski on (029) 2057 3616.
For further details about the project, contact Nadine Thompson on nadinenicolathompson@gmail.com