PRESS RELEASE
ISSUED THURSDAY, 16TH JANUARY 2014
EDUCATION MINISTERS SAMPLE BELFAST SHIPYARD ‘PIECE TIN’
Dublin and Belfast Pupils Launch Titanic Belfast Education Workshop
Education Minister, John O’Dowd MLA and his southern counterpart, Ruairí Quinn T.D., Minister for
Education & Skills, have joined 60 primary school children from Dublin and Belfast to explore the
attraction’s educational offering and launch a new workshop entitled ‘My Granda’s Piece Tin’.
Named after the ‘pieces’ or sandwiches which shipyard workers brought to work for their lunch, the
workshop explores what life was like for the youngest workers in the Belfast shipyards, where Titanic
was famously built.
Pupils from St Brigid’s National School, Dublin and Our Lady’s Girls Primary School and Victoria Park
Primary School in Belfast explored the lives of the young apprentices, some of whom were aged just 15
when they began their careers. The pupils also dressed in shipyard workers’ clothes typical of the
period and enjoyed a tailored tour of the Titanic Belfast galleries as part of ‘My Granda’s Piece Tin’
workshop.
Minister O’Dowd said:
“The story of the Titanic has captured the public imagination for the past 100 years. Since it opened in
2012 Titanic Belfast has provided young people from across Ireland with a wonderful opportunity to
learn about this important part of our history.
“The educational workshops on offer are not only informative and enjoyable but importantly they are
also relevant to a range of areas of learning within the revised curriculum.
“I am delighted to be here today with Minister Quinn to help launch the latest Education Workshop. It
was clear that the pupils from Our Lady’s, Victoria Park and St Brigid’s have thoroughly enjoyed their
experience and I am sure that will be the case for all those who visit this fantastic resource.”
Minister Quinn added:
“Since opening Titanic Belfast has drawn over one million visitors and renewed international interest in
other Irish connections to Titanic such as Cobh. Titanic Belfast is, however, also a major education
resource and more than 30,000 pupils from across the island have already enjoyed its education
workshops.
“This is a wonderful experience for the children from St Brigid’s and for some this has been their first
visit to Belfast. Like most children they are fascinated with Titanic and that makes it an excellent story
to help bring various parts of the school curriculum to life.”
During the workshop the children were asked to compare the contents of their packed lunches with a
typical shipyard ‘piece tin’ and considered which options would be healthiest.
Tim Husbands, Titanic Belfast’s CEO, said:
“Part of the enduring appeal of Titanic is that there are so many levels to the story, from its
construction to the tragedy of its maiden voyage, its eventual discovery and the personal stories of
passengers, crew and the men – and children - who built her.
“From an educational perspective the opportunities are endless and we’ve devised an education
programme specifically to meet the needs of the curriculum on both sides of the border. Titanic’s
popularity crosses all ages and is also truly international – so far we’ve had school visits from 18
different countries including Australia, Canada and Ecuador.”
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At present Titanic Belfast offers four education workshops and a full range of pre-visit and post-visit
learning materials to support teachers and pupils. The workshops include ‘Dit and Dah’ which explores
communication methods at sea and ‘Dipping Your Toe’ which utilises Titanic Belfast’s high-tech Ocean
Exploration Centre to help pupils learn about how to safeguard the world’s oceans.
To mark the Ministers’ visit, Titanic Belfast is also hosting a Titanic Thinkers exhibition displaying
Titanic-themed art by local school children.
Since opening Titanic Belfast has welcomed more than 1.3 million visitors, including almost 350,000
from the Republic of Ireland. More than 42,000 pupils have experienced Titanic Belfast’s education
programme, representing more than 900 schools.
ENDS
For more information please contact:
Jonathan King
Stakeholder Communications
028 9033 9949
jonathan@stakeholdergoup.com
Notes to Editors
Titanic Belfast
Titanic Belfast is an iconic six-floor building featuring nine interpretive and interactive galleries that
explore the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Titanic, as well as the City and people which made her.
It is the World’s Largest Titanic exhibition.
The building houses temporary exhibits, a banqueting suite, education and community facilities,
catering and retail space, and a basement car park. Visitors learn about the construction of RMS Titanic
and the wide and rich story of Northern Ireland’s industrial and maritime heritage.
Supported by the Northern Ireland Executive, Titanic Belfast is a unique public/private partnership
funded by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Belfast City Council, Belfast Harbour and Titanic Quarter
Ltd. It is operated by Titanic Belfast Ltd and owned by the Titanic Foundation Ltd.
Titanic Belfast’s Education Programme
Titanic Belfast offers three workshops and a tailored programme to Education Groups.
My Granda’s Piece Tin is a special programme for 6-to-8 year olds which looks at life for young
apprentices at Harland and Wolff during the 1940 to 1970 era. The children take a one-hour workshop
that looks at the lunch break in the yard; the contents of the men’s “piece tins” and the games they
played. The second half of the programme is a living history tour of some of the galleries where,
dressed like an apprentice and guided by an apprentices’ supervisor, they hear stories, sing and then
cheer as Olympic is launched.
Dit and Dah is a workshop that looks at long range communication methods and is most appropriate
for 8-to-12 year olds. There are three components to the workshop; an introductory, information
based presentation, a practical activity based session where the pupils try three communication
methods (Morse code, semaphore and signal flags) and then a plenary activity in the form of a
strengths and weaknesses analysis of the methods they tried.
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The Panel is aimed at secondary aged students and the delivery can be adjusted to suit 11-14 year olds
right up to 18 year olds. Students are given access to primary source material in the form of excerpts
from the Titanic inquiry testimonies. They must decipher the archaic and, at times, legalistic language
and use active learning techniques to work out what the witnesses feel went wrong. They then role
play as members of a board of inquiry advisory panel giving advice to the legislative bodies of 1912
who must write new laws to help prevent the tragedy ever happening again.
Dipping Your Toe is a workshop suitable for students aged 6-14 years old and is an introduction to
Ocean Literacy that will encourage them to think proactively about the wider world around us.
Participants will find out about the importance and operation of our oceans, how we negatively impact
on them and what we can do as individuals to protect them for the future.
The Education page on www.titanicbelfast.com contains tailored information for teachers. We provide
thorough logistical information about planning a visit and what happens while they are with us, and a
risk assessment document that is suitable for education group leaders.
Also online, teachers will find gallery notes that are age and syllabus specific, allowing teachers to
make connections between their curriculum targets and the themes and activities that can be found in
our galleries. To support teachers bringing a group to Titanic Belfast, we also make suggestions for
introductory and plenary activities in the classroom. This will help students maximise the curriculum
value of their trip even if it is not part of a wider Titanic project.
Teachers can contact the group booking team via a dedicated education telephone line and a
dedicated education email address. They are offered the opportunity to book a workshop as well as
their gallery tour and are sent a detailed email giving them an over view of the booking process and
our terms and conditions.
Education Groups are met upon arrival onsite by a group host who will give them a safety briefing and
an introduction to getting the most out of the galleries. Where the group is too large to put into one
entry slot (i.e. more than 30/32) they are split into two smaller groups. The first group goes into the on
the hour slot and the second group is offered a free talk to keep them busy for 15-20 minutes until
they can enter at the next slot.
ENDS.
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