BRIEF
BEAMISH MUSEUM
County Durham Museums Learning Network – schools marketing project
1.0 About the project
Summary
County Durham Museums Learning Network, coordinated by Beamish Museum, is seeking to appoint a
freelance consultant to work with the museums in the Network - both individually and collectively – to
identify the most effective approaches to marketing our education offers to schools.
The outcome of the project will be a report setting out recommendations for each individual museum, plus
recommendations for collaborative marketing activities the Network could undertake, and an action plan.
Major Partner Museum Learning Network
Beamish leads an Arts Council England Major Partner Museum (MPM) consortium with The Bowes
Museum, and has secured £2.1M for the 2015 - 2018 round of funding. It is one of 21 Arts Council
England-funded MPMs nationally.
Through the MPM programme, Beamish provides support and resources to other museums in County
Durham to develop their learning offers. The MPM funding covers the costs of a Learning Coordinator who
is based at Beamish and works across County Durham museums (in post since 2013), plus a small
amount of seed funding to support projects.
Partners in the Network include: Bowes Museum, Durham University Museums, Durham Cathedral,
Killhope Lead Mining Museum, Locomotion National Railway Museum at Shildon and Durham Light
Infantry Museum. The Network also works with other museums across the wider North East region as and
when appropriate. Other partners include the Education Advisory Service for County Durham and Culture
Bridge North East. The Network offers the opportunity for museum learning practitioners to share ideas
and good practice.
So far, the MPM funding has supported the development of different learning activities mainly targeted at
both the primary and secondary sectors. Each museum has identified particular areas or themes they
would like to develop underpinned by the new curriculum. Successful pilots have taken place with
feedback from teachers creating learning activities which have been rolled out. These new activities now
need to be marketed to other schools and teachers.
MPM funding has also supported a conference for County Durham-based museum learning practitioners,
which was delivered in partnership with Durham University Museums which took place on 5th March 2015
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and focused on evaluation, curriculum changes and team work. There is an enthusiasm and an appetite
for joint working and partners are excited about working together more closely to market their offer to
schools.
The Network will feed into the emerging County Durham Local Education Partnership (LCEP), which is
convened by Culture Bridge North East.
For more information about the museums in the Network, please see appendix 1.
2.0 The Network’s aims for this project:
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To help museums in County Durham to better communicate their respective learning offers to
teachers and schools.
To increase numbers of school visits
To improve the awareness amongst headteachers and teachers about the high quality and varied
cultural education offer available within County Durham. (Primarily focusing on County Durhambased teachers – however, we are also keen to look at strategies for marketing to teachers and
schools across the wider North East region and beyond).
To create low-cost marketing strategies for this user group.
To identify the most effective joint marketing strategy and activities for the group.
To make suitable marketing recommendations to individual partners.
3.0 Scope of work - activities involved
We envisage that this project will involve the following activities:
 Research period – looking at what’s on offer at each museum and how we are doing now, through a
series of individual meetings:
o To review current practice by exploring what we are doing now: what works well, what are the
challenges, what’s new, what opportunities are there for working together?
o What type of marketing do the individual museums think works best for each key stage?
o What are considered to be the best ways to build lasting relationships with teachers/
schools?
o Data review – collating school visit data across the previous three years (2012/13 onwards),
and identifying any key trends.
 Research with teachers across the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors through focus groups,
one-to-one engagement with headteachers and staff. Considering:
o Could a segmentation model help us to target our marketing and messages more effectively
to teachers?
o What works best for teachers – in terms of when and how they receive information, the leadin time needed to plan a visit, and how can we make sure the right information gets to the
right person?
 Research with other educational and cultural professionals who have an interest and expertise in
this field.
 Explore how we can drive up visits from schools within County Durham and further afield.
 Facilitating meetings with museum learning and marketing colleagues to present findings, agree
next steps and develop action plans.
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Consultees:
 Cross section of teachers – from different types of school.
 Specialist teachers; headteachers; deputies.
 Schools Advisory Services and in particular Gabrielle Reddington, Specialist Advisor for Humanities,
Durham County Council.
 Communications and marketing teams from each museum.
 Culture Bridge North East and other professional bodies linked to schools and museums.
4.0 Outputs and outcomes
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End of project report, to cover:
o Recommendations for each individual museum for priorities and investment in marketing
and communications.
o Recommendations for the Network as a whole – what collaborative marketing activities
could be carried out together?
o Support the group with action planning– a detailed action plan to the end of the MPM-funded
period (2018) and some indicative ideas of what we do beyond.
5.0 Timetable
2016
Week commencing Monday 18th January - brief circulated
12 noon Friday 12th February – deadline for expressions of interests (no more than 4 A4 pages)
w/c Monday 22nd February - interviews
Project starts from March onwards as described above
End June – (date to be set) draft report due
End July – (date to be set) final report due
6.0 Available budget
£5,000 including travel and expenses.
7.0 Skills and expertise required
 A comprehensive and demonstrable understanding of both the schools/ education environment
and the cultural sector.
 Knowledge and expertise of strategic and tactical marketing and communications.
 Previous experience of successfully delivering similar contracts.
 Outstanding people skills and communication skills – an active listener.
 Creative thinking skills.
 A problem solver.
8.0 Your submission – how to express an interest, and any queries
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A document responding to this brief is required and should include the following (no more than four sides
of A4):
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Outline your suitability for the role
How you plan to approach the requirements of the contract
Fee – including breakdown of costs
Two referees – people/ organisations you have delivered similar contracts for
A timetable for the project, including milestones and key dates, which takes account of the time
needed to involve and consult staff on draft ideas.
Please submit by email to Simon Woolley, Beamish’s Head of Learning at simonwoolley@beamish.org.uk
no later than 12 noon on Friday 12th February.
If you have any queries about the requirements of the brief, please also direct them to Simon at the email
address above.
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Appendix 1
About the museums in County Durham Learning Network
Auckland Castle
The Auckland Castle Trust is developing into a large scale visitor attraction in Bishop Auckland
incorporating History, Art and Faith across several sites in the town. The former palace of the Prince
Bishops and the beautiful and expansive Deer Park forms the current offer to visitors; this will be joined by
a specialist Spanish Art Gallery, a permanent exhibition examining 3,000 years of Faith in the British Isles,
and a restored Walled Garden by 2018.
Auckland Castle has only recently been offering an educational programme, and the Education Officer is in
the process of developing and piloting school visits linked to the History, RE and Art curriculums in key
stages one and two. In addition to the indoor visits, Auckland Castle is working with the MPM-funded
Learning Coordinator to develop an outdoor visit programme incorporating Forest School activities, nature
trails and walks. Throughout December, approximately 1,000 children visited the castle on Christmas
visits which included a tour of the castle and a Christmas craft activity as well as skating on an outdoor
rink.
Beamish Museum
Beamish is an open air museum that uses collections to tell the story of everyday life in the North East
from 1820 through to 1940. It is a living museum, where visitors can immerse themselves in different
time periods and directly experience objects and collections set in an authentic context, interpreted by
costumed staff.
The museum currently attracts between 40 and 45,000 children visiting with their schools a year. Children
take part in learning activities linked to the National Curriculum. Activities are mostly enquiry-based, and
children dress up in period costume so that they can be fully immersed in the experience. A team of
learning professionals develop the programme of activities, which are available for all key stages. In
addition the team supports family and adult learning and has recently appointed STEM learning
coordinators to create new activities relating to this part of the curriculum. Learning staff also deliver
outreach into schools and research and support ‘Remaking Beamish’ which is a £17M project that will
take the museum forward into time periods in living memory, building a 1950s town and farm and also
adding to the existing 1820s area.
A dedicated Learning Coordinator has been appointed to oversee and support the MPM learning
programme as described above.
Bowes Museum
The Bowes Museum is a world-class visitor attraction with outstanding collections of European fine and
decorative art, textiles, ceramics, silver and metals, archaeology and toys. The Museum is a registered
charity; its objectives are to advance the public’s education and understanding of art, craft, design and
history.
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The education department is responsible for planning and delivering programmes of activities and events
for families and schools. Currently the department works with approximately 9,500 young people in a year.
The wide ranging educational workshops combine a gallery tour with a practical activity and encourage
visitors of all ages to appreciate many aspects of the permanent display as well as those which feature in
the rich and varied temporary exhibitions programme. Learning staff also deliver outreach workshops in
primary schools.
Culture DurhamU (Durham University)
The Culture DurhamU Learning Team offers a wide variety of workshops, outreach sessions and online
resources that make use of the incredible collections within its care. Sessions take place in one of the four
outstanding venues – The Oriental Museum, Palace Green Library, Durham Castle and the Botanic Garden
– and are all tied in with the National Curriculum or exam board criteria, with the vast majority of
workshops and activities being led by a member of the team. Last year the team worked with over 20,000
children as part of the onsite and outreach programme and is currently looking to further develop its online
presence.
The most popular workshops include Stone Age to Iron Age, The Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Ancient
Greece, the Shang Dynasty, Early Islam, Ancient Egypt, the art and culture of China, Lunar New Year,
Diwali, what’s it like to live in a Castle, Rocks and Fossils and different environments. In addition DurhamU
also runs sessions that are tied into its temporary exhibition programme. In the past few years this has
included workshops on the Lindisfarne Gospels, Citizenship, Antarctica and this year there will be a major
focus on the involvement of people from Co Durham in the Battle of the Somme.
DLI Museum
The DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery are closing on April 1st 2016. The DLI (Durham Light Infantry)
collection will be going into storage but some will be on temporary display at Palace Green Library. The
Learning Team (two officers, term time only) will be developing a new programme to engage the
community with the collections. Initially this will be schools outreach: Real Stories Real Lives – students
using contemporary sources to follow the story of a World War One DLI soldier and present this to the
class, including a handling session. A similar structured workshop for World War Two, “History Detectives”,
will be offered, as well as “Durham’s Duties”, which compares and contrasts civilian experiences during
World Wars One and Two, using objects and contemporary sources.
Killhope
Killhope is a scheduled monument - an authentically preserved 19th century lead mine - located at 1,500
feet in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The museum offers an inspiring and creative
learning environment by providing a real place, with real experiences and real issues, to make learning
‘come alive.’
The skilled staff take children back in time to provide a powerful and immersive insight into what it was
like to live and work as a Victorian lead miner. Pupils can see what it is like to be underground during an
hour long mine trip and experience working on the washing floor. Pupils can use hand tools; authentic
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working machinery driven by the largest water wheel in the North of England and handle and investigate
minerals.
Pupil feedback has revealed that the mine trip and the activities on the washing floor (and the chance to
smash some rocks up!) are highly valued and memorable. Learners are fully engaged by the opportunity to
experience; investigate and explore the legacy of lead mining in Weardale.
Research and studies have revealed that well-executed learning outside the classroom can motivate
learners; lead to better achievement; improve behaviour and assist in the personal development of
learners by building confidence and self-dependency.
Locomotion
The National Railway Museum at Shildon has around 5,000 children visiting with their schools each
year. This is in addition to approximately 20,000 instances of participation. Locomotion currently offers
school packages for key stages one to three, each of which is linked to the national curriculum. Most
school visits involve the study of rail vehicles, many of which are from the National Collection. In addition
to Locomotion’s learning team, a wide range of volunteers assist with the delivery of school visits. In 2016,
the museum plans to strengthen its key stage three offer with a particular emphasis upon STEM.
Other key partners:
Culture Bridge North East
Culture Bridge North East is one of a network of ten Bridge organisations across England. Bridge
organisations were set up to help Arts Council England (ACE) achieve its mission ‘great art and culture for
everyone’. A vital part of this is making sure that every child and young person has the opportunity to
experience the richness of the arts and culture. The Bridge Organisations use experience and expertise to
connect education and cultural sectors across the North East, building on partnerships and great practice.
Culture Bridge North East is managed by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.
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