Five Islands pupils visit London to find inspiration for new Museum

A group of St Mary’s schoolchildren travelled to London this autumn with Five Islands Academy – and some of their fieldwork will used in the new museum exhibitions and interpretation.

Students from Five Islands Academy were in London from 8 – 13 October, exploring the city and undertaking fieldwork related to their Art, History and Geography curriculum.

The group also included young people who are involved in the Isles of Scilly Museum Young Curators Project who used the trip to explore signage, wayfinding and low-tech interactive ideas

This will help to inspire the young curators with enthusiasm and ideas for ways they can tell the stories of Scilly at the new museum.

The Five Islands Academy group visited many of London’s top museums including Tate Modern, Museum of London, the Design Museum, the National Gallery and the Science Museum.

Picture credit: Five Islands Academy on Instagram

Young Curators is the Museum’s programme for getting young people involved in museum life. The young people become part of the museum team and help to develop their creativity, collaborative skills and knowledge – working together on events and activities at the museum and projects out in the community.

The programme, developed in partnership with Cornwall Museums Partnership, will be a key part of the new museum offer at the Cultural Centre and Museum in the renovated Town Hall.

This project is part of a series of pilot projects for the new Cultural Centre and Museum – a series of workshops we’ll be developing to help us to reach a wider audience, connect with Isles of Scilly residents and our wider diaspora. 

The workshops have been designed on themes which were highlighted by local people in our early consultations, and we want to forge close relationships with local residents and the wider Scilly community to help us tell important stories and celebrate our Island heritage.

We will look forward to sharing more of what the Young Curators have learned in due course – and seeing their work exhibited in our new Cultural Centre and Museum. We will share more details of the outcomes of their trip soon.

Picture credit: Five Islands Academy on Instagram