SOMETHING SPECIAL,
SOMETHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY . . .
CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL
EDUCATIONAL NEEDS BENEFIT
FROM VISITING WEALD & DOWNLAND OPEN AIR MUSEUM
THANKS TO BARCLAYS
Children with special educational
needs will benefit more than ever from visits to the award-winning Weald
& Downland Open Air Museum, Singleton, Chichester, West Sussex
thanks to support from Barclays PLC.
The outdoor museum of historic
buildings and rural life, set in the heart of the South Downs, will be
able to extend its current educational provision for children with
special educational needs (SEN) following a £17,800 donation from
Barclays PLC.
The children, from the Museum’s
region of Sussex, Kent, Hampshire and Surrey as well as London and the
home counties, will enjoy special workshop-based days exploring
medieval, Tudor and Victorian life through role-play, storytelling and
rural crafts. Specially trained and experienced educational staff led by
the Museum’s education officer, Diane Walker, will work with the
children, whose visits are subsidised to help reduce the costs of the
high staff-to-children ratio. The Museum – which has just won another
national Heritage Education Trust Sandford Award for its education
service – plans to increase the number of visits of SEN children from
400 to 1,000 in the first year of the new project. The grant also
includes a travel bursary.
This is a museum that offers a rich
mixture of opportunities for learning through experience, with the
sights, sounds, smells and tastes of rural life engaging children’s
imagination and turning the acquisition of knowledge into an adventure
of discovery. "Children with special educational needs respond
particularly well to the practical, visual and tactile activities that
we have designed," says Diane Walker. "As well as learning,
they gain confidence and social skills that transfer into their everyday
lives, benefiting parents and teachers as well as the children
themselves."
A key feature of the project is the
involvement of Barclays staff in caring for the children whilst they
visit the Museum. Local Barclays staff will be giving up their time to
act as volunteer assistants when the special needs schools attend their
event days. This all forms part of the Barclays community programme,
which contributed over £26 million in 2000. In addition to funding a
wide range of community projects, Barclays actively encourages staff to
give up their time and skills: giving something back makes good business
sense.
Further information on Something
Special, the Museum’s programme for children with special
education needs can be obtained from Diane Walker or Christine Standing
on 01243 811459.
The Museum is open daily from
10.30am - 6.00pm until 31st October, Wednesdays and Weekends
from 1st November 10.30am - 4pm. General information can be
obtained from the recorded information line - 01243 811348. Visit the
Museum’s website on www.wealddown.co.uk.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The award-winning Weald & Downland Open Air Museum has over
45 historic building exhibits from town and country. It was recently Designated by the
Government for the outstanding importance of its collections. Visitors can discover the
medieval farmstead, the working watermill producing stoneground flour, the 16th
century market hall, a delightful pair of 19th century whitewashed cottages,
the fascinating hands-on exhibition about traditional building techniques, historic
gardens and farm livestock.
In addition to the buildings the Museum takes a special interest
in nurturing rural skills and countryside crafts, growing thatching straw, producing hazel
spars for thatching, milling flour, maintaining coppice woodland and marketing underwood
products.
Delicious food is provided by the café next to the millpond and
there is a well-stocked museum shop where you can browse books on countryside and
buildings themes. Find out more about the Museum by visiting our website on www.wealddown.co.uk.
The Museum is open daily from 10.30am -
6.00pm. Admission charges are £7 for adults and £4 for children with discounts
for families, groups and over 60's.
NOTE TO EDITORS
Reporters and photographers are welcome at the Museum. Further
information: contact Operations Director Gail
Kittle
Tel: 01243 811363
Fax: 01243 811475
Email: marketing@wealddown.co.uk.
