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PACE Mini Museum gives students a peek behind the scenes

Thursday 05 November

Pupils from PACE in Aylesbury partnered with the Museum as part of an exciting project run by the National Paralympic Heritage Trust

Earlier this year, 6 students from PACE in Aylesbury visited the Museum for an exciting day learning more about how museums work. From looking at archive items with Collections Manager Will, to having a tour of the galleries with the Learning team, pupils got to experience all the different types of job roles involved in running the Museum.

Pupils also got to experience a sensory storytelling session and learnt what the Visitor Experience and Marketing teams do.

“They all loved Helen and storytelling. The girls have said they want to do a job like Helen and work in museum learning. The boys want to be like Max and do marketing on social media.”

After the visit the pupils worked with artist Jess Hartshorn to create their own Mini Museum, inspired by what they had seen and experienced. They created a ‘United Sportalicious Artilicious Gallery’ which was based in Roald Dahl’s links to sport. The imaginative gallery included models and drawings created by the students.

Mini Museum

The Mini Museum project was managed by the National Paralympic Heritage Trust (NPHT) and was designed to forge active and sustainable partnerships between SEND schools and their local museums. The three year project worked in partnership with six Buckinghamshire SEND schools and their local museums and is supported by the Rothschild Foundation.

The aim of the mini museum project was to work with a SEND partner school to help young people gain an insight into how to create an exhibition from start to finish and the roles involved. Giving students an insight into skills such as curation, object handling, audience engagement, museum learning, marketing, interpretation, stories behind objects and what different museums look like.

Make learning come alive

The PACE Mini Museum project shows how learning can come alive when students experience real-world experiences. For these pupils, the day wasn’t just about seeing the Museum, it was about trying new things, discovering hidden talents, and finding role models in unexpected places. Whether it was storytelling, marketing, or learning about the collection, each activity opened their eyes to careers they might never have considered before.

We were thrilled to be part of this exciting project and to get the chance to build a new relationship with a local SEND school. We have a strong ongoing relationship with NPHT and it was a fantastic opportunity to build in this to share the power of stories and Museums with more people.