Culture Coventry celebrates 10,000 school visits in under a year
06 March 2014
Museums and Schools programme a huge success in Coventry!
Education staff at Culture Coventry, the trust which runs four of Coventry’s museums and heritage sites, are celebrating this week, as they reach the milestone of their 10,000th school pupil visit to Coventry museums in less than a year, as part of an innovative new scheme that encourages local schools to visit museums and heritage sites more often.
On Wednesday 5 March, the trust welcomed 54 pupils from Gosford Park Primary School to the Lunt Roman Fort, where the youngsters took part in a morning of exciting Roman activities, including the history of the fort and finding out about life as soldier - which even included trying on Roman armour! This visit to the Lunt was the school’s third trip to Coventry museums over the past year, as the pupils also visited the Herbert and Coventry Transport Museum in the autumn term to take part in Second World War themed activities.
The trips to the museums are all part of the Museums and Schools programme, a three-year initiative that encourages primary schools to visit Coventry museums. The scheme involves Coventry museums working in partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and is funded by the Department for Education through Arts Council England. This funding has enabled schools to pay just £5 per pupil to take part in three different educational sessions at the museums throughout the school year. Classes that use the special £5 promotional offer are also entered into an annual competition to win a visit to the V&A in London.
Museums and Schools’ Project Manager, Emma Hewitt, said:
“Less than a year ago we welcomed the very first pupils who took part in the Museums and Schools programme. Eleven months later, we have had 10,000 visits from school children through the initiative alone. The school learning activities and workshops that each museum offers are unique, and the scheme 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 have been able to visit the museums more often with their schools, and we look forward to further visits over the next year.”
To take part in the Museums and Schools offer, which also offers transport bursaries of up to £350 per year group, or to find out more about school visits to Culture Coventry museums, visit our Special £5 packages page.