Join our award-winning Shabtis in Schools programme

Imagine if your school could host a real ancient Egyptian museum artefact.

What could you do with this unique opportunity?

…This experience with the shabti is something these children will tell their grandchildren.”

Our award-winning Shabtis in Schools programme places ancient Egyptian shabti funerary figures in primary and secondary schools across Manchester. The awe and wonder of this artefact is a powerful tool to inspire your pupils, staff and local community.

Manchester Museum is pleased to invite the next phase of schools to take part in this very special programme for 2023-24.

“A fantastic stimulus to hook the children”

“It has been a fantastic opportunity for us [teachers] to develop our subject knowledge”

“The kudos of actually housing a real artefact from a museum put a real positive focus on the school”

This project aims to:

• raise aspiration and build skills in history for pupils
• expand subject knowledge and build skills for teachers
• provide a focus for your community engagement
• promote cross-curricular collaboration between professionals, inside and outside of the school
• build social and cultural capital for your pupils

We will be offering:

• professional installation of a genuine museum artefact in your school between January and April 2024 (no additional insurance or security required)
• a collaborative planning and CPD event in Autumn 2023, and a network of like-minded teachers
• resources, activity suggestions and case studies to inspire your planning
• access to museum professional educators, conservators and curators including Egyptologist Dr Campbell Price

What would you do with your shabti?

Schools from the first three cohorts have:

• Invited families, communities and other schools to visit in-school museums, curated and guided by students themselves
• Hosted both live and digital talks and debates with museum curators, for teachers, students and families
• Used the shabti to develop teacher skills in teaching history using source material, and in coordinating whole-school projects
• Held whole-school Shabti Days, which inspired artwork, food, games and more

Get more ideas from the pilot schools case study and blog post!

Parrs Wood High School Shabti Display 

Who is eligible?

We are able to offer this opportunity to a limited number of state-funded schools inside the M60 motorway.

What we will be looking for?

This is a creative, innovative programme where the more you put in the more you will get out. Our first three cohorts of schools have shown that the hook of the artefact is a fantastic way to bring staff, pupils and the community together around a real point of pride and inspiration.

We have a very limited number of spaces on the project and expect demand to be high. Therefore we will prioritise schools who can demonstrate in their application that:

• their teachers will benefit from the collaborative CPD and development opportunities
• they will use their shabti creatively (e.g. across a broad curriculum, to teach history innovatively, or for parental engagement in learning)
• the shabti would have a wide impact in their school community and build cultural capital (e.g. a high number of individuals will be in contact with it and/or plans will allow for deep and rich engagement.

New Session Alert: Curious Classification

As part of our work with Indigenising Manchester Museum, our brand new workshop Curious Classification is ready to be rolled out to your school. Using our taxidermy handling collection in the Inflatable Museum, this workshop explores different ways of approaching, classifying, and grouping animals from around the world. We can’t wait to guide your students through classification and build their confidence in considering how others approach classification and presenting the museum display they’ll create.

Embroidering The Museum: Free CPD Craft, Science and Wellbeing Workshops for Primary Teachers and TAs

Primary Teachers and Teaching Assistants are invited to join Manchester Museum’s artist in residence, Lucy Burscough, for an inspiring cross-curricular workshop, ‘Dab Hands: Embroidering the Museum’, designed especially to expand your creative skill set and explore the wonderful things that can happen when arts and crafts meet science. 

You will receive a free, beautifully designed embroidery kit themed on objects from the museum’s collection. In a choice of live or digital workshops, Lucy will lead you through learning the basics of embroidery, leaving you with the skills and knowledge that you need to complete your kit and develop your own embroidery lessons. 

Participants will enjoy the wellbeing benefits of learning embroidery skills in a supportive environment, alongside taking away new perspectives on how this craft can help pupils to look closely at and record scientific specimens such as plants and insects.

Digital sessions using the embroidery kits will take place on Wednesday 15 June (7-8.30pm) and Thursday 23 June (6-7.30pm). Lucy may be able to attend your school in person to work live with you and your colleagues.

• To book as an individual online participant, please email your name, school, and choice of date to school.bookings@manchester.ac.uk. These are free of charge but places are limited. 
• To discuss an in-school activity for teachers and TAs, please email amy.mcdowall@manchester.ac.uk with your school name, location, and your proposed numbers and date/s. 

To find out more about Dab Hands and Lucy’s work at the museum please visit www.lucysart.co.uk/stitches.

Help us shape the future of learning

hello future

Manchester Museum has an exciting career opportunity and invites applications for the post of Learning Programme Assistant – Outreach and Museum, providing full time employment for the next two years, throughout the final year of our hello future redevelopment and into the first year of reopening.

Investigating specimens on display in Nature’s Library

The Learning Programme Assistant will play a key role in keeping Manchester Museum’s incredible collection alive during our closure period, ensuring – through your amazing engagement skills – that we continue to inspire young people across the region throughout this time.

Ancient Egyptian artefacts installed in schools through the Shabtis in Schools programme

You will also provide creative ideas and support testing of brand new programmes ready for our reopening late in 2022, in line with our values and mission and in collaboration with the Primary Learning Coordinator and other team members. If this sounds like…

View original post 321 more words

Working Scientifically at the Museum

You might have seen our post in May about ‘Inside Out’ – a project with primary schools last year that had children discovering for themselves how the real-life setting of the museum works in a scientific way. They checked pest traps, created an ethical experiment with tadpoles, curated some ancient Chinese objects….and much more!

The children worked really hard to develop their findings into five fantastic films that were premiered at the Great Science Share flagship event in June, as well as events in schools to share with family and friends. We’re delighted to say that these videos are now live and ready for children all over the world to learn from.

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The videos could be used as an introduction to a science-focused visit to the museum, as part of a discussion about scientific careers, or as an introduction to real-life working scientifically.

They touch on collections care, entomology (bugs!), herpetology (amphibians and reptiles), Egyptology, archaeology, palaeontology, and more. All five areas of working scientifically are featured: Identifying, classifying and grouping; observing over time; research using secondary sources; comparative and fair testing; and pattern-seeking.

We absolutely loved working with the 5 schools, 10 teachers and 150 children who took part in this project, and we hope they had fun too!

“[The project] has been massive for boosting my pupil’s confidence in science.” (project teacher)

“Nearly every child said their highlight for the year was visiting Manchester Museum.” (project teacher)

For future opportunities like this for your pupils, please sign up to the Primary & Early Years E-newsletter. With many thanks to the University of Manchester’s Faculty of Science and Engineering for the Widening Participation funding that made this project possible, and our fantastic partners in SEERIH. We hope you enjoy the films!

Ancient Egypt at Central Library

Manchester Museum’s latest installation at Manchester’s Central Library – Young, Rich & Famous – challenges us to think of how we will be remembered after death and what we will leave behind.

If you’re missing our Ancient Worlds galleries, but you’re taking a class into central Manchester this school year, this could be a great way to enrich your history topic in 2020 – with zero entry fee.

What might my class do there?

We’ve put together notes, activity sheets and resources for key stages 2 and 3 to help you get the most out of your class’s visit. Your pupils might:

• Help Princess Isis to entertain the gods
• Sketch and annotate an artefact like an archaeologist
• Compare ancient Egyptian tombs to modern social media
• Debate whether these artefacts should be in Manchester
• and more!

The display can comfortably fit around 15 children at once. Later in 2020, we expect to offer a combined visit to Central Library using our amazing Inflatable Museum at a discounted rate. Contact Jenny to express your interest.

How do I book?

To book your visit to Central Library, please contact Angela Rawcliffe.

Can I make a day of it?

In the same building, why not ask Central Library if they can provide a workshop on books about ancient Egypt, or visit Archives Plus to get stuck into some local history?

You might also combine your library visit with a trip to the nearby historic John Rylands Library on Deansgate (perhaps for their popular Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs workshop), or to Manchester Art Gallery, just across the road.

Central Library is right next to the Metrolink St Peter’s Square stop.

Let us know how you get on!

Download: Activity sheets and teacher notes

Festive Ancient Egypt!

We know it can be tricky to fit in school trips and even visitors to school during December. The hall is taken up with panto rehearsals and staff are rushed off their feet.

So let us take the hassle out of your December with our Pop-up Festive Ancient Egypt offer! 

We’ll bring to you a miniature version of our Inflatable Museum (gazebo-style!) that can fit into your classroom – bringing the style and excitement of the Inflatable without the need for your school hall.

We’ll run a version of our Archive Explorer: Ancient Egypt workshop – complete with real ancient artefacts and mummification challenge – but with a festive twist.

And in the spirit of seasonal goodwill, we’re offering this at specially discounted rates:

– For 1 class in a day: £250  £180

– For 2 classes in a day: £380 total  £250 total

– For 3 classes in a day: £500 total  £300 total

Places are limited and first-come, first served within a 30 minute drive time of M13 9PL on Wednesdays and Thursdays in December. Drop amy.mcdowall@manchester.ac.uk an email if you’re interested.

Join our award-winning Shabtis in School project

Imagine if your school could host a real ancient Egyptian museum artefact.

What could you do with this unique opportunity?

…This experience with the shabti is something these children will tell their grandchildren.”

Our award-winning Shabtis in School project places ancient Egyptian shabti funerary figures in primary and secondary schools across Manchester. The awe and wonder of this artefact is a powerful tool to inspire your pupils, staff and local community.

Manchester Museum is pleased to invite the next phase of schools to take part in this very special project.

“A fantastic stimulus to hook the children”

“It has been a fantastic opportunity for us [teachers] to develop our subject knowledge”

“The kudos of actually housing a real artefact from a museum put a real positive focus on the school”

This project aims to:

• raise aspiration and build skills in history for pupils
• expand subject knowledge for teachers
• provide a focus for your community engagement
• enhance visibility and reputation of your school
• promote cross-curricular collaboration between professionals, inside and outside of the school
• build social and cultural capital for your pupils

We are offering:

• professional installation of a genuine museum artefact in your school between January and June 2020 (no additional insurance or security required)
• a collaborative planning and CPD event in September 2019, and a network of like-minded teachers
• resources, activity suggestions and case studies to inspire your planning
• access to museum professional educators, conservators and curators including Egyptologist Dr Campbell Price

The package in total is worth around £1500, but this year we are able to offer it free of charge in return for detailed evaluative feedback and active contribution to resource development.

What would you do with your shabti?

Get some ideas from the pilot schools case study.

Parrs Wood High School Shabti Display 2018-19

Want to know more?

Contact us by email with any questions or to arrange a phone call. Alternatively pop into our Late event on Thursday 20 June for a chat.

What are we looking for?

This is a creative, innovative project where the more you put in the more you will get out. Our pilot schools have shown that the hook of the artefact is a fantastic way to bring staff, pupils and the community together around a real point of pride and inspiration.

We have a very limited number of spaces on the project and expect demand to be high. Therefore we will prioritise schools who can demonstrate in their application that:

• their teachers will benefit from the collaborative CPD and development opportunities
• they will use their shabti creatively (e.g. across a broad curriculum, to teach history innovatively, or for parental engagement in learning)
• the shabti would have a wide impact in their school community (e.g. a high number of individuals will be in contact with it and/or plans will allow for deep and rich engagement)

Before you apply …

See this draft outline of expected timescales, our commitment to you, and what we’d be asking your school to commit to. Please make sure your senior leadership team have read this before you apply.

Ready to go?

Tell us your plans by applying online by 5pm on 28 June 2019.

What will happen next?

We will notify successful applicants by Friday 5 July. We will then ask for signed copies of the project agreement to be returned by Monday 15 July. More details of resources available will be sent over the summer to aid your long-term planning, which can be completed in full during the CPD event (essential) in September 2019.

“It’s a fantastic hook, and it offers so many opportunities to use as a stimulus for enquiry, not just in history, but there’s so many other options [like] philosophical debates, writing historical fiction about it. There’s all this discovery that children can have and I think that’s a really exciting thing”

“I think it has engaged all our pupils and it has created learning opportunities to develop those key skills, research, that analysis, that evaluation, which are skills they need in all subjects …This experience with the shabti is something these children will tell their grandchildren.”

Apply now

Early Years update

We are particularly pleased to be welcoming more nursery and reception groups visiting the museum for self led visits this term. Even with our reduced capacity at the museum during our capital redevelopment project we are trying to accommodate as many visits as possible . For a self led visit you still need to book through our system and hopefully you are finding this process straightforward.

Explorer bags

You can book our Explorer Bags to use on the Fossils gallery or the natural history galleries.

Handling tables

At certain times you will also be able to get up close to and handle objects from our collection on our handling tables ( which are volunteer led),  including in our Under 5’s gallery Nature Discovery.

Extension activities and sharing experiences back in the classroom

To support your visit you may wish to bring your own resources, which may include:

Cameras / Ipads

Photographs can be used to document your visit and to use as an aid for children to talk about their visit or document it in other ways They can also be used to share memories of the visit with other children/ staff in school and with parents.

Drawing materials

Enjoy opportunities for observation, drawing and mark making inspired by our objects.

Story time on the galleries

Bring a book linked to your topic and enjoy a break and some quiet time on our galleries to share a story. We also have a collection of  books in Nature Discovery gallery linked.

Parental Engagement

The Museum is FREE and open at weekends and in the holidays but we know that all parents do not realise this. Are you able to bring parents on your visits and introduce them to the Museum? Can you share information and memories about your visit so that they will feel confident to visit themselves with their children?

Need a hand?

Don’t forget that  our Early Years Coordinator is available to support your planning. Drop Elaine an email or call on 0161 306 1777 with any questions. We are also happy to meet you at the museum to plan your visit.

Can you help?

We are also looking for schools who want to pilot new activities as part of the development of the new early years learning programme from September 2019 onwards so let us know if you are interested in being contacted when opportunities arise.

Inside Out

What we’ve been up to recently …

hello future

A guest post from Amy, our Primary Learning Co-ordinator, about her recent work with primary pupils to bring the ‘working scientifically’ topic to life by exploring some of the different ways in which the Museum does this behind the scenes.

This year, thanks to the University of Manchester’s Faculty of Science and Engineering Widening Participation funding, we are running a scientific enquiry and communication project for local primary schools in partnership with our colleagues in SEERIH – the Science and Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub. Through hands-on and unique explorations of the Museum’s inner workings – across departments ranging from Archaeology to Herpetology (frogs!), and Entomology (bugs!) to Collections Care – children have been discovering for themselves how these real-life environments work in a scientific way.

‘Working scientifically’ has been a core element of the Primary Science curriculum since 2014 and refers to: “Develop[ing] understanding of the nature, processes…

View original post 410 more words