Community Voices is a new series of posts written by the organisations we support. We hope to provide a platform for local charities to share their expertise and offer their unique insight into the opportunities available to and challenges faced by Buckinghamshire residents.

This week, we hear from Chiltern Open Air Museum who received funding through our Local and Community programme in 2018.

Chiltern Open Air Museum is at the forefront of preserving the heritage of the Chilterns for present and future generations. Funding from the Rothschild Foundation’s Local and Community programme enabled Chiltern Open Air Museum to provide primary aged children with access to our immersive Sandford Award winning Learning programme.

Through this Rothschild grant, the Museum was able to offer outdoor learning opportunities to pupils from schools within ten miles of the Waddesdon Estate. These children would otherwise have not been able to benefit from such learning and enrichment outcomes due to the geographical distance of their schools. The Museum is not accessible by public transport so schools face high costs of coach travel and charges for the Museum’s admission and learning provision as financial barriers to entry.

COAM subsidised visits for 462 school children in Years 1-6 across eight different Buckinghamshire schools.  Through the funding, 27 authentic, experiential educational workshops were delivered from March to October 2019 (during the Museum’s open season) to pupils from in and around Aylesbury.

During these sessions the children engaged in cross-curricular hands-on activities allowing them to access the formal curriculum across subjects such as History, Science, English, Maths, Design and Technology.

Not only did these workshops bring the curriculum to life, but the beautiful environment of the Museum site itself promotes positive mental health and well-being. There are many benefits to being immersed in our environment: children can travel back in time and be inspired by our rescued historic buildings and explore the outdoor setting of woodlands, meadows, ponds and beautiful gardens. Being able to enjoy the historic working farm with its animals and playground spread across wide open spaces connected to nature and greenery helps develop happy, healthy children who become confident, independent and resilient learners.

COAM delivers excellent outdoor learning provision in Bushcraft, Orienteering and Archery (having a permanent Outdoor Learning specialist and qualified Forest School practitioner) designed to facilitate teambuilding, problem solving and survival/life skills, along with encouraging social interaction and communication.

Direct outcomes of the Rothschild grant have been:

1. Subsidised engagement and inclusivity for pupils from mainstream and special schools.
2. Stronger relationships with those schools to encourage repeat visits and provide access to new children.
3. Improved SEND provision and enhanced learning activities to promote local children’s cultural capital.
4. Support for teachers to meet the demands of the new Ofsted framework from May 2019 to provide teaching and learning opportunities within a broad and balanced curriculum.

Chiltern Open Air Museum

Community Voices is a new series of posts written by the organisations we support. We hope to provide a platform for local charities to share their expertise and offer their unique insight into the opportunities available to and challenges faced by Buckinghamshire residents.

If you are a current or past grantee and would like to be featured in the Community Voices series, please read our contribution guidance.