Nuneaton and Coventry Museums team up to offer new opportunities for schools

09 June 2015

Coventry Museums are celebrating after their innovative ‘Museums and Schools’ scheme attracted funding to continue for another year.

The scheme, which enables primary schools to take part in museum visits for a heavily discounted price, has been such a success that the Department for Education has agreed to continue to fund it until March 2016.

The Museums and Schools project was introduced in 2012 and instantly became a huge success in Coventry, attracting over 27,000 pupil visits. Schools from as far away as Leicestershire and the Black Country, have made visits to the Culture Coventry museums, which include Coventry Transport Museum, the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, the Priory Visitor Centre and the Lunt Roman Fort in Baginton. Many of these schools would otherwise have been unable to visit Coventry’s museums, due to financial pressures. The scheme was initially due to finish in March this year.

As part of this extension to the project, the Culture Coventry museums have now teamed up with Nuneaton Museum, to offer an even broader range of museum experiences for primary school children across the region. The partnership with Nuneaton Museum means that primary schools can visit Coventry Transport Museum, the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum or Nuneaton Museum for two sessions of their choice. Two-session packages are available at a range of prices depending on the chosen package, starting from free, up to just £4.50 per child. A transport bursary of £200 per year group is also available.

Emma Hewitt, Museums and Schools Project Manager at Culture Coventry said,

“The Museums and Schools programme has been hugely successful over the past year, so we are thrilled that the Department for Education have agreed to extend the funding to March 2016. The project gives pupils who don’t usually have the option to visit art galleries and museums the chance to explore a different learning environment. It is fantastic that such a large number of pupils have already benefited from the scheme and we would like to share the success of this project with Nuneaton Museum. We look forward to working with them to broaden the reach of the programme to more schools in the Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough.”

Councillor Ian Phillips, Portfolio Holder for Arts & Leisure, Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council said,

‘I’m delighted that Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery has been invited to partner Culture Coventry Museums in this scheme with funding from the Department for Education. The Museum & Art Gallery offers a variety of high quality educational sessions for pupils to enjoy and it will be great to see these sessions delivered to a much wider audience. We look forward to working with Culture Coventry Museums in this project.’

Teachers who are interested in this special offer and want to find out more information sessions available at the museums, please go to www.transport-museum.com or www.theherbert.org or www.nuneatonandbedworth.gov.uk/museum