Calling South / West Yorkshire teachers...

My grandad was a coal miner, as were many of my family. A good proportion of the lads in my form group at school went down Maltby or Silverwood Pit when they left school...

This opportunity to get involved in a new coal mining project in Wakefield has just been passed through to me:

"The National Coal Mining Museum for England is currently involved in a Heritage Lottery funded project to improve and expand its underground tour. Throughout the design phase we have involved a number of stakeholder groups to identify themes and elements that can be included in this development.

A key part of the provision of the project is for both Primary and Secondary Schools. Up to now we have held a number of consultation meetings with Primary School Teachers, but we are now looking to put together a consultation group for the Secondary Curriculum. The key subject areas we have identified are History, Science and Geography. In the course of the many projects we have run on site, we have built up a number of willing contacts in the areas of both History and Science, and while we are sure that we have good links to the KS3 Geography Curriculum, we do not have any contacts in this area.

We are in the process of speaking to those schools that we deal with on a frequent basis, but would appreciate any further advice: we would like to recruit individuals who may wish to join our Secondary Curriculum Consultation Group, who have expertise in the area of the Secondary Geography Curriculum and its delivery?

The only commitment that we would ask is that they are able to attend the group meetings, held at the Museum in the early evening for a couple of hours once a term, at the most. When we have particular questions we may ‘phone or email group members between meetings.

In return, in addition to the knowledge that they have helped shape the project and the CPD and networking benefits from attending, individuals will be invited to bring some of the first school groups to pilot some of the new underground areas. It is hoped these will be open in 2012. For individuals who attend the meetings, we are able to pay travel expenses up to £15, and will of course provide coffee and cakes when we meet.

We are looking to hold our first meeting early in July, which I know is very short notice, however, we will be more than happy to accept members to the group who are unable to attend this first meeting. While it would be great to have people who are familiar with our site, it is far more preferable that individuals are enthusiastic and willing to help – we can always provide an ‘introduction to our site’ session for individuals who have not visited us.

Many thanks for you assistance in this matter, I look forward to hearing from you,

Best wishes,

Stuart D. Berry

Assistant Education Officer

National Coal Mining Museum for England

Wakefield,

West Yorkshire, WF4 4RH

Tel: 01924 848806

Email: stuart.berry@ncm.org.uk

If you can help, please get in touch with Stuart.

Image by patrick h. lauke - Flickr CC licensed... thanks

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