Sandy Thomas and Claire Marston, Learning Officers for the Trust, tell us how the team has continued to work with young people, in and out of lockdown, and about plans for the future.
The Learning Team is looking forward to welcoming more schools back in the next year. Despite the pandemic we have kept busy, continuing to offer learning opportunities. School visits to our museums have gone ahead whenever restrictions have allowed. In-school workshops have been in demand when regulations have permitted, and our loans service has been busier than ever. We’re delighted that so many schools have chosen us for their first post-Covid 19 school trip. We have enjoyed seeing you all!
We have provided personalised resources for schools whose trips were cancelled due to lockdowns and have worked to improve many loan boxes. This has enabled schools to use real objects to engage pupils in the classroom and when teaching online. We have also developed new trails for schools visiting the Museum of Somerset.
Loan Resource Box 
Take Over Day Digging Deep in the Bronze Age 
Suitcase from Take Over Day 2020 
Takeover Day Goes Online
A highlight of the year is the Kids in Museums national Takeover Day event in November. Year 5 pupils usually ‘takeover’ at our sites, answering enquiries, creating social media posts and cataloguing archives. Due to the November lockdown we created new ‘escape room’ style activities which were introduced by live video link. Pupils were challenged to identify a missing exhibition object using information from staff diaries, maps, old handwriting and enquiry notes. The final reveal came after they had successfully unlocked a safe and worked out the solution. Takeover Day was very different and we have plans to adapt it as a possible future workshop.
Supporting Wellbeing
Student wellbeing has been a major issue during the pandemic. To support the recovery curriculum we have welcomed pupils to the Somerset Rural Life Museum to complete arts activities, enabling them to gain the Arts Award Discover certificate. During lockdown we introduced an adapted version called ‘Arts Award Discover at Home’. We have also run sessions at the Brick and Tile Museum, making fabulous clay tiles with creative 6-year-olds. We can’t wait to see the finished tiles once they’ve been fired in the kiln.
Virtual reminiscence sessions and loan packs have been created to support care homes audiences. Throughout the pandemic we have also provided online themed holiday activities for families at home, making them as sustainable as possible and imaginatively using objects from around the house. As restrictions ease we anticipate a busy summer with exciting activities for people to enjoy at our sites.
Working with Schools this Autumn
From September we are increasing capacity at our museums for school visits and will be launching new online resources as part of our subscriber offer. The popular Take One project will also return. Schools will use the Roman Capricorn figurine as inspiration to explore history, art, creative writing and more. We expect wonderful work inspired by the object, which will be displayed in an online exhibition. Exciting months ahead!
Find Out More
For more information about the Trust’s work with schools and young people visit our education hub.