The Night at the Museum project was created in a partnership between Portsmouth City Council’s Adult and Family Learning Team and the Museums and Records Service. Three weeks of recruitment activity in the Paulsgrove area led to ten families in the area being recruited for the project. The families were selected on the grounds that they experienced significant deprivation, did not fully engage in school, or were deemed to have a need over and above the ordinary. Paulsgrove is an area of high deprivation.
The families slept in the keep of the castle and enjoyed an evening of Tudor-themed activities led by members of Tempus-Fugitive.
The families had the chance to get involved in a range of different workshops including Tudor dancing, learning about the armour of the day and making marzipan sweetmeats and pomanders.
Next morning there was breakfast, a treasure hunt around the castle, the presentation of Portsmouth Museum trail cards and an explanation of a call back in September to see how many of the families had used the card. Everyone was exhausted but happy about the experience and very keen to use their trail cards. From conversations with the adults, many of them had been worried about the event and ended up loving it.
‘It was great! We got to see all the armour and imagine what it would have been like’
Liam, aged 11
‘Additional gains for us were the confidence of the families to engage fully with the project, particularly one family that rarely engages with school activities. The families all knew so much more about the Tudors and the Castle and clearly enjoyed the way the learning was presented. The children went into school on the Monday and were full of what they had done.’
Anne Cassidy, Family Programmes Manager
- Ten families who have experienced significant deprivation and who do not fully engage in school enjoyed a learning experience in a museum
- Barriers have been broken down, as shown by the response to the museum trail cards, with families now keen to visit other museums in Portsmouth
- Perceptions were changed, as initial concerns voiced by some of the families were overcome and everyone left on the Saturday morning exhausted but happy
- Partnership between the Adult & Family Learning Team and the Museum was key, ensuring there was a really good understanding of the project and its aims
- Immersion into Tudor life, with Tudors populating the castle, encouraged learning in a fun and interactive way
- A more flexible timetable would be useful, allowing more time for activities and the opportunity for story telling at the end of the day to help settle everyone down
