Our hard-working Abbey Hillians worked towards this wonderful event over a number of weeks. They presented six classroom galleries covering all kinds of themes with historical significance, from Ancient Egypt, The Maya and World War II. They also fully immersed themselves by impressing everyone by adopting a variety of roles within the museum including tour guides, shop workers, designers and authors.

The collaboration of the different year groups, through the school’s Children’s Parliament members, teachers and support staff, led to a great sense of community. This was strengthened by involving pupils’ families as the museum ‘visitors’. They hosted their museum as a genuine attraction, even researching what brand of tea they should serve; along with thoughtfully considering items for the gift shop so that their project was able to make a profit.

To make the day authentic, the pupils drew on their own experiences of visiting public spaces like museums and galleries, including those attended on school trips. Jodie Henshaw, from Mansfield Museum, met with the Children’s Parliament to answer their questions which ranged from how to arrange artefacts in the museum through to how they could provide a really special café experience!

“Our pop-up museum is at the heart of what I want learning to be about here: equipping pupils with the knowledge of the curriculum in an engaging, meaningful way which brings families and the community into school” said headteacher Adam Jevons-Newman.

Abbey Hill’s museum project was a huge success and has served the school on many levels. It has combined learning with fun, involved the children and their families, and has celebrated the many aspects of event management, including: commerce, logistics, teamwork and leadership. The positive outcomes reflect the school’s values of embracing exciting, invested learning.

Here’s to the next one!