Museum & Art Swindon opens its doors to schools

Earlier this month, children from Greenmeadow Primary School had a unique opportunity to travel back in time to Stone Age Swindon as part of their learning about the era.

During their visit, they experienced the town’s ancient history first-hand, holding hand axes and arrowheads, dressing up in Stone Age costumes, and immersing themselves in the stories of Swindon’s hunter-gatherers.

The visit was part of a trial run to see how schools could visit MAS and experience the collection.

As part of the Museum’s move to the Civic Offices at Euclid Street, the new facility has additional space to welcome school groups, allowing more children to be engaged with the Borough’s history.

Museum & Art Swindon has now launched its Schools Discovery Programme, providing hands-on learning sessions for pupils from Early Years to Post-16. Delivered by a specialist team of educators, Discovery Visits use the collections at MAS to bring learning to life in ways which are designed to inspire creativity and imagination.

Schools can choose from a range of topic areas within Art, History and English. Visits are tailored to the curriculum and include an opportunity to explore the Museum & Gallery, enjoy a facilitated session, as well as pre and post visit resources.  

Museum & Art Swindon cares for a variety of fascinating historical collections dating from pre-history to the present, including natural sciences, archaeology, world cultures and social and industrial history.

Artefacts tell the story of the people of Swindon and the development of the local area, from Jurassic marine reptiles to Saxon battles, Victorian boom to changing 20th and 21st century identities. The Museum’s nationally-significant collection of modern and contemporary British art contains hundreds of artworks by prominent modern artists including Lucian Freud, Howard Hodgkin, L.S Lowry and Grayson Perry.

Mrs Chandler, teacher at Greenmeadow Primary School, said: “We had a brilliant day at the Museum! It was amazing for the children to see and touch a real mammoth tooth!

“The children loved the hands-on activities and were able to put their current history learning into context.”

Mags Parker, Learning & Engagement Officer at Museum & Art Swindon, added: “School visits are a really special opportunity for us and for pupils. We are able to share inspiring local heritage and pupils have a unique chance to get up-close and personal with art and history.

“It’s a powerful experience for children to handle genuine artefacts which are more than 6,000 years old and have recently been unearthed on their own doorsteps. A great opportunity for time-travelling!”

Councillor Marina Strinkovsky, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Placemaking and Planning, said: “One of the positives of moving the collection from Apsley House to the Civic Offices was to make sure the incredible history and culture of Swindon was available to children from across the Borough.

“The first few trial sessions have been very well received and I can’t wait to see more school groups come in and experience the wonder of Museum & Art Swindon.

“I’d encourage every school to look at visiting and book onto a session as soon as they can.”

Schools are now able to book sessions via the Museum & Art Swindon website. They can visit: https://www.museumartswindon.com/learn/ to browse our array of school sessions available or email the Learning Team at: MASLearning@swindon.gov.uk.