Museums for Schools

Sandwell Museum Service provides a wide range of activities for schools. Scroll down the page to find out more information and click to print off our booking forms and guidance notes.

Find out what Sandwell Museums can offer your class.

Call one of our sites between Tuesday and Friday to book your session or check availability or if you just want information about our sessions you can also e-mail us museumarts_tourism@sandwell.gov.uk

Why Bring Your Class to a Museum?

Museums offer a unique learning environment where children can learn in a completely different way to how they would learn in the classroom.
Museums can inspire and motivate.
Museums can stimulate all the senses, as well as nurture creativity.
Activity sessions in museums can provide an holistic approach to learning, working accross the curriculum at the same time, using topics from history and art, to speaking and listening, creativity, English and citizenship. They can cover whole topics in a few hours.
Museum work can also be the basis of projects and follow up work back at school, including ICT and design and technology.
Children who often find traditional classroom based activities difficult respond well to the hands on and visual nature of museum visits.
Museums offer children a taste of the past which they can see, smell, touch and hear.

Why Visit Sandwell Museums?

Sandwell museum offer a wide range of activities across our sites as well as loan boxes covering a wide range of topics.

Our sessions have been carefully tailored to meet the needs of the national curriculum for different key stages and we aim to continuously develop them by listening to teachers and children to meet changing needs.

We are also very happy to work with teachers on specific one-off projects at any of our sites.

What we have to offer:

Keep checking this site as we are developing new activities all the time!

Please click the links below for more information, booking forms and guidance notes or call the relevant site between Tuesday and Friday.

The Oak House - 0121 553 0759
Haden Hill House - 01384 569 444
Wednesbury Museum & Art Gallery - 0121 556 0683
Galton Valley Canal Heritage Centre -0121 558 8195

Download a printable copy of our education leaflet

Cheap Coaches for Sandwell Schools!

We have negotiated a deal with a coach company through Sandwell's passenger transport unit for cheaper deals for Sandwell schools to visit Sandwell museums main sites.

This means that Sandwells schools can visit our site with a coach fair of just £109. Call one of our sites for details.

Special Exhibitions in 2010

We have lots of temporary exhibition which you may wish to use for projects across the curriculum. You can talk to the museum on how you could use these exhibitions to fulfil your curriculum needs or there may even be special activities for schools organised.

Temporary Exhibitions

Victorian Living History for KS2 at Haden Hill House

Living History is the best way of learning about the past. In this session pupils learn about children from different social backgrounds in Victorian times. Will the children be an urchin, a servant or a lady or gentleman? The day is undertaken in costume and in character.

More information, photographs and booking forms and guidance notes.

Victorian Time Travelling for KS1 at Haden Hill House

Victorian Time Travelling enables children to travel back to Victorian times and visit the house long ago, meeting real Victorian characters to learn about toys and homes. Staff are in character and children are all given a costume.

For more information, photographs and to print off booking forms and guidance notes:

Tudor Living History for KS2 at The Oak House

This session enables children to learn about the past in the best possible way - by stepping into it. The children become either rich Tudor children or poor servants in Tudor times and the session is undertaken in costume and in character.

For more information, photographs and to print off booking forms and guidance notes:

Tudor Time Travelling at KS1

The children travel back to the Oak House in Tudor times to learn about houses and homes and toys long ago. The children meet Tudor characters and have their own costume to wear (Suitable for year 2 and year 1 in the summer term).

Home Front. A look at life during World War II on the Home Front - at Haden Hill House

A look at life at home in World War II with a day of varied activities which give the children a chance of handling real and replica items.

Learn more about our Home Front sessions and see some photographs, and print off a booking form and guidance notes:

We also now have a teacher and pupil resource site at:

www.homefrontinsandwell.org

A Taste of Homes in the past for KS1

Bring your KS1 class to Haden Hill House for a morning learning about homes long ago. The children will undertake three activities including taking a tour of the house led by museum staff, learning about housework in the housekeeper's room and looking at household objects in the past and modern objects and comparing the two.

This is a half day session but if you would like to visit all day you are welcome to stay and undertake your own activities, such as drawing the house (we do not allow metal clip clipboards in the house as it damages furniture), re-tracing your steps around the house and looking out for clues about life in the past, enjoying the William Morris wall paper etc its up to you! Just let the house know of your intentions.

Don't forget our 'Time Travelling' full day session in costume, scroll up the page to find out more. Call the house for a booking form and guidance notes for a taste of homes long ago on 01384 569 444

Guided Tours and Guided Tours with Workshops

We offer guided tours and tours with workshops at our historic houses focusing on your choice of topics from, a taste of the Tudors, the Victorians, homes in the past, rich and poor, to look at patterns and designs as part of an art project, to look at conservation as part of a citizenship projects, you chose!

More Information About the Tours we can Offer.

Life of the Canals - Galton Valley Canal Heritage Museum

A day learning about life on the canals. Take a walk along the Galton Valley canal area and have a go at opening and closing a lock. Visit the new pumping station and see some of the canal monuments left behind by the Victorians.

In the afternoon the children will get to see inside a replica canal cabin to see how families lived, have a go at some canal art and learn about the lives of children their own age living and working on the canals.

For more information about Galton Valley Canal Heritage Centre, or to book a session for your school, please call 0121 558 8195. A full day session at the museum is £65.

Galton Valley

How we used to Play - Toys from the past for KS1 at Wednesbury Museum

Our toy handling session was updated and re-vamped two years ago and now we have rebranded it. You are now able to stay all day and undertake teacher led activities and play traditional games in the afternoon if you wish. Bring your class to Wednesbury museum to compare and contrast toys from long ago. The children will look at a range of toys and think about:

What they are made of and natural materials
How they move and the lack of batteries and electricity.
Toys that taught children how to be adults.
Using your immagination when you couldn't afford toys
Making toys from old household items - The children get to make a paper hat.

The session runs from 10am-12pm but if you wish to stay in the afternoon to look around the gallery, particularly our toys gallery and to play with some more traditional toys and games you are welcome, just let staff know when you book.

Print off our booking form & guidance for how we used to play

Handling Loan Boxes

We have collections of original artefacts and replica items available for loan to your classroom. on the following themes-

More Information about our Loans Collections of Museum Artefacts for schools

We are not just here for History!

Why not use our Permanent Collections?

Why not use out collections on permenant display as the basis of project work across the curriculum including our Ruskin Pottery Collection and the stories of the people who worked in the factory, our Victorian oil paintings and the designs and patterns in the furniture and on the walls of our Tudor house.

Speak to our Education Officer based at Haden Hill House Museum about your ideas. You will find more about some of our permenant collections on this site.

The Society for the Prevention of Occupancy of Castles and Stately Homes (SPOOCS)

SPOOCS is a national project aimed at year six students preparing for sats and revising literacy skills. The project was filmed at the Oak House and you are welcome to visit to undertake your own activities or take a guided tour with our staff. Museum staff are happy to discuss with you your individual visit and are happy to play along with scenarios and help your students get the most from their visit. However we currently do not offer a specific activity day to accompany the SPOOCS programme but we hope to be able to offer a museum led day in 2011.

Call the house to discuss your requirements.

Why not work with us on a special project?

Museums are great at creative learning and not just around history topics. You can teach almost anything in museums in an exciting an innovative way.

Speak to our Education Officer and why not work with us on a one off or special project for your class. In the past we have undertaken specialist projects around citizenship, storytelling, drama, art, English, creative writing, ICT and much more.

Why not visit us for projects around.

Literacy, creative writing and storytelling
Art
William Morris
Citizenship
Science and Environmental studies

Citizenship & Democracy

Citizenshipanddemocracy.org.uk is a website for Sandwell schools with a downloadable teacher's pack linked to the life of Baroness Betty Boothroyd first woman Speaker of the House Of Commons.

Citizenship Democracy

It is designed to help with the tricky task of explaining European, National and local government to teenagers.

Other useful information about our Schools Service

Please always ensure that the teacher in charge of the group reads the instructions carefully.
Please note that we cannot accept internal payments for our schools visits. We accept cheques and cash.
Sandwells Museums Education & Exhibtions Officer is based at Haden Hill House.