Greater Fens Museum Partnership
Fenland Lives and Land Project
11th February 2013
Formal Education Procurement Document
Applications should be returned no later than 3pm
Tuesday 2nd April 2013
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Contents
1. Fenland Lives and Land Project Synopsis
2. Exhibition Procurement
3. Budget Provision
4. Form A
5. Appendix 1 Learning Program Plan
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Page 3
Page 6.
Page 12
Page 13
Page 15
Fenland Lives and Land
Project Synopsis
This three year project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). It will
explore the changing relationship between Fenland people and the special and
vulnerable landscape that has shaped their lives. It will consider the history of
conflict and partnership between communities and their local environment and
how this has forged a unique sense of identity and place. The social interaction
between community, landscape and biodiversity will be explored. How these
relationships have evolved to create a unique regionally significant heritage will
be central to the project, as will be the Fenland collections and resources held by
partner museums. Particular emphasis will be placed on the specialist objects
and collections which were created and adapted in response to environmental
conditions e.g. specialist ditching spades and eel traps.
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Fenland Lives and Land will connect people to their heritage through active
co-production, participation and learning. It will support capacity building for
both partner museums and the community organisations with which we will be
working. It will create and develop sustainable relationships with new and
existing audiences, providing rigorous skills development and training for
participants, museum staff and volunteers.
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The project will facilitate individuals gaining greater self-confidence and
stimulate a greater sense of identity and place for the communities in which
they live. It will highlight the rich and diverse heritage of the Fenland and how
this has shaped community and the individual.
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The project will foster increased levels of volunteering and community
engagement at partner museums and enhance the long-term capacity and
skills. New opportunities for volunteering will be developed both for the
exhibition and the museums. The project will seek to increase the links with
other community groups and organisations
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The project will see the development and creation of five co-produced
“exhibitions” during the first 18 months. Each one will explore different topics
and using a variety of different media (including traditional museum display,
film and drama). The selection of exhibition themes has been informed by
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consultation with the GFMP, existing and potential community partners and
the wider public.
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Following the completion of the exhibitions they will then tour for a further 18
months. The exhibitions will tour museum partners and community venues
and will be supported by programmes of formal and informal learning,
delivered on-site and as outreach.
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The five proposed exhibition topics have been developed through a
consultation process and all explore a different aspect of the overarching
project theme of the links between communities and their environment.
The topics are:
o The History of Fenland Communities
o Rivers, Meres and Marshes,
o Living on Land and Water
o Tales of Fen People (including Past and Present Migrant
Communities)
o Shops & trades
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Overseen by a Project Working Group which will report to the full Partnership,
partner museums will work in small “clusters” to co-produce the five
exhibitions.
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Each cluster will include at least one local community/group organisation and
partner museums. The Project Officer and Project Support Worker will
facilitate this joint working.
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Each cluster will focus has a specific topic i.e. ‘Fenland Characters’ and will
co-produce an exhibition and supporting activity programme. Each cluster will
be represented on the Project Working Group. What format and how the
exhibitions look will be developed by each cluster and agreed by the Project
Working Group.
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In addition to those community groups directly involved in the cluster
meetings the project has allowed for groups that cannot attend during the day
due to other commitments such as work or school. These are termed
‘Satellite Community Groups’. This type of group will involve the Project
Officer or Support Officer going to them at times that suit them. For example
Youth Groups normally meet in the evenings. These groups will work on
targeted and specific elements of the exhibition such films or other content.
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A training and skill sharing programme will support museum clusters to
develop their skills and knowledge and enhance their capacity to deliver the
project. Where appropriate, this training will be delivered in partnership with
the SHARE scheme.
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The project aims to foster the development of a longer term strategic role for
the GFMP in the Fens through joint working with such organisations as
Cambridgeshire ACRE, facilitating joint sessions of training and
organisational development and funding advice. It is envisaged that the
GFMP and the clusters will liaise with HLF and other external funders to
support and stimulate new funding bids by community organisations.
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To support accredited learning and progression, a number of partner
organisations will offer Arts Awards accreditation. Additionally, it is intended
that some partners will become accredited to offer the Arts Award. There will
also be linkages with the NMAS-led HLF-funded Skills for the Future
programme.
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The project will seek to increase the volunteer base for partner museums and
organisations. We aim to engage with new volunteers from the relevant local
community, providing appropriate training and development support. The
exhibitions will provide many exciting and innovative opportunities for
volunteers to become involved with.
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The project will target a range of creative activities at young people and
encourage their participation
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Fenland Lives and Land will provide a formal learning offer
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It will also deliver creative informal on-site and outreach activities that support
audience development.
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Fenland Lives and Land will look for synergies with CMAP Wide Skies, NMAS
Skills for the Future, Festival Roots Heritage Project, SHARE and the Great
Fen Project
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Each exhibition will need to be suitable and of interest to people across the
Fens not just the location that created it. However, it is envisaged that site
specific material could be included in the form of changeable digital displays
etc. Again the cluster groups will consider and develop ideas around this.
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The project will aim to be carbon neutral and will aim to offset its carbon foot
print by providing funds to purchase trees for community tree nursery and for
community woodland in Cambridgeshire.
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Social media will play a pivotal role in the project Facebook, Twitter QR
codes, podcasts and the website will all be utilised.
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Greater Fens Museums Partnership
FORMAL LEARNING PROCUREMENT
FENLAND LIVES AND LAND PROJECT
FOR THE PERIOD 1ST JULY 2012 TO 31ST DECEMBER 2014
A. Introduction
The central element of this project is that it revolves around co-production
between museums and community groups, devolving the decision making
process to the museums/ community groups and ultimately the Project Working
Group. This procurement is equally about development of the plan, delivery and
the support of partner museums.
Support for this procurement will be given by the Project Officer and Support
Worker
As part of the development phase of the FL&L project, a plan for the delivery of
formal learning was researched and written by learning staff at Ely Museum. This
learning plan (see Appendix 1) was incorporated into the project Activity Action
Plan for submission to the HLF.
The GFMP seeks to procure an educational provider to review and implement
the formal learning elements of the Activity Action Plan and deliver identified
learning outputs within an agreed budget.
The formal learning plan created at the development stage will need to be
reviewed to reflect the changes that have been made to the plans for the
individual exhibitions. These changes arise from the co-produced nature of this
project.
The formal learning offer will focus on the delivery and support of learning
activities for three of the cluster exhibitions, with links to a fourth.
The form that the learning support will take will need to reflect the needs on
individuals cluster museums and groups, as well as the form and content of each
exhibition.
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Procurement selection criteria will focus on qualitative elements including:
 Clear evidence of developing and delivering quality formal learning activities
for schools
 A proven ability to develop the formal learning elements of the Activity Action
Plan into deliverable activities.
 Ability to deliver required outputs within available budget
 The ability to work closely with a broad range of museums and community
groups including volunteers
 An awareness of Fenland history and landscape
 The resource and staff capacity to deliver.
 Evidence of delivering formal education sessions that are related to Fenland
would be an advantage.
 The successful application will need to work closely with project staff and
GFMP to ensure that the formal education activities are linked closely to
those exhibitions which are still in development.
B. Outputs
Exhibition 1 - The Early History of Fenland Communities
Provision
A workshop will be formulated that is aimed at KS1 and KS2 and based around
the Early History of Fen Communities and the Tales of Fen People exhibitions.
Volunteers will be trained to lead sessions and dress up and the sessions will
include the use of a freelance costumed re-enactor. This will include additional
consultation with teachers and partner museums, development of sessions for
different venues and age groups.
Training sessions run by freelancers will have been made available through the
main project in running handling sessions with archaeological objects, costumed
re-enacting and a mock archaeological dig.
These sessions could be modified as outreach sessions at Fenland schools.
There will be possible links to Cambridgeshire Archaeology outreach and local
archaeological sites.
Workshops may include (dependant on content of exhibitions)
KS1 – Way of life of local people in the past. Lives of significant people and past
events. How to run a mock archaeological dig. Costumed re-enactor/explainer.
KS2 – Romans and Anglo-Saxons in Britain dressing up. Local History Study.
Literacy: narrative writing and poetry with historical settling, traditional stories.
The use of chronology and timelines.
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Resources
The sessions will make use of handling collections from partner museums and
their archaeological displays.
Local knowledge of their communities and the venues will be supplied by
partners as payment in kind towards HLF targets.
Learning Provider Time x 14 days @ £300 /day = £4200. This includes 2 days
attending working group meetings to understand exhibition and consult partner
museums.
Mock dig - £100.
Costume (adult) - £250.
Costume (child)-£150
Timetable
April 2013 – May 2013 – Consultation with clusters and teachers, development of
Workshop.
June 2013 – October 2013 - Pilot sessions at venues in each cluster. Marketing
to schools.
November 2013 – October 2014 – Sessions offered to at least 150 pupils (5
classes) across the cluster museums. Linked to exhibition run.
September - December 2014 – Final evaluation conducted of learning
programme.
Output data
Data will need to be collected regarding school visit numbers, increased
participation in school sessions within partner museums,
Additionally any increase in new volunteers working with schools and other
outputs linked to increased confidence within museums that have currently have
little or no formal learning offer.
Exhibition 2 – Shops, Trades & Pubs
Provision
A workshop will be produced for the Shops, Pubs and Trades exhibition. This
school session will focus on local history and in particular the changing face of
local shops and trades during two distinct historical periods.
Children will learn about the local shops and trades and how they have changed
with special emphasis on the Victorian and the 1940’s. A range of resources will
be included in the exhibition that will include photographic, oral and written
histories.
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Volunteers will be trained to lead sessions. Additional consultation with teachers
and partner museums will be carried out and sessions will be suitable for
different venues and age groups.
KS1 – Way of life of local people in the past. Lives of significant people and past
events.
KS2 - Victorian Britain and Britain since 1930, as a local history study. How the
lives of local people changed and were influenced by past events. The delivery
will support knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the
past, historical interpretation and enquiry.
The school offer should include a local study into the impact of the Second World
War on the economy of local communities and its wider impact on different
sectors of society.
Resources
Handling collections, local knowledge, Fenland displays, fine art collections, oral
history material, maps and photos/images from partner museums.
Venues to be provided by partner museums as an in kind contribution.
Learning Provider Time x 14 days @ £300 /day = £4200.
Costumes - £200
Handling Objects - £200
Maps and Timelines - £150
Craft Resources - £100
Schools Resources print £500
Timetable
April 2013 – May 2013 – Consultation with clusters and teachers, development of
Workshop.
June 2013 – October 2013 - Pilot sessions at venues in each cluster. Marketing
to schools.
November 2013 – October 2014 – Sessions offered to at least 150 pupils (5
classes) across the cluster museums. Linked to exhibition run.
September - December 2014 – Final evaluation conducted of learning
programme.
Output data
Data will be collected regarding school visit numbers, increased participation in
school sessions within partner museums, increase in new volunteers working
with schools and significant increase in confidence within museums that have
currently have little or no formal learning offer.
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Exhibition 3 – Living on Land and Water
Provision
A workshop will be produced for the Living on Land and Water exhibition with
links to the River, Marsh and Mere exhibition. This school session will focus on
living on land and water through the eyes of children. It will enable children to
research a character/life in history, using historic sources where possible and try
and taking on their roles. The key idea is giving children an opportunity for
discovery learning through museums and exhibitions. A number of characters
and their journeys across the Fens are included in the exhibition. The central
theme of water and rivers is a significant element therefore the school session
will focus on local geography and history. It will explore how water has shaped
the heritage of the Fens, resulting in very specialist and diverse fenland objects.
Children will learn about the journey of a River: River Ouse and River Nene and
how there have been changes in the Fenland rivers and landscapes over time.
Volunteers will be trained to lead sessions. Additional consultation with teachers
and partner museums will be carried out and sessions will be suitable for
different venues and age groups.
Workshops may include (dependant on content of exhibitions)
Using archives, maps, images
Drama and singing to explore children’s work through the seasons.
Travelling children.
Making bricks at some venues.
Have-a-go traditional crafts and trades.
Art/craft activities
Natural history – past and present
KS1 – Way of life of local people in the past. Lives of significant people and past
events.
KS2 - Victorian Britain and Britain since 1930. Local history study. Literacy:
narrative writing, ‘day in the life of’ non-fiction.
KS3 - the impact through time of the movement and settlement of diverse
peoples to, from and within the British Isles.
Partnership link with the Wildlife Trust and Great Fen Project who run river study
workshops at a local river.
Teaching science through fenland history (drainage technology and engineering).
-Link to Geography-rivers
-Link to Science- habitat, climate change, life cycles.
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-Link to Literacy
Maps and timelines -interactive if possible.
Include historical events and people e.g. skating and skaters.
Drainage of the Fens: drainage of Whittlesey, Ramsey and Soham Mere,
interactives.
Drainage debate workshop: role-play and drama presenting both sides of
historical and current argument
Art/craft activity
Resources
The sessions will make use of handling collections and local knowledge from
partner museums and the venues will be supplied by partners as payment in
kind.
Archival information about local children in the past.
Learning Provider Time x 15 days @ £300 /day = £4500
Costumes for a class - £600
Handling Objects -£200
Craft Resources - £400
Local Crafts Person mentoring time - £600
Schools resources print £500
Timetable
April 2013 – May 2013 – Consultation with clusters and teachers, development of
Workshop.
June 2013 – October 2013 - Pilot sessions at venues in each cluster. Marketing
to schools.
November 2013 – October 2014 – Sessions offered to at least 150 pupils (5
classes) across the cluster museums. Linked to exhibition run.
September - December 2014 – Final evaluation conducted of learning
programme.
Output data
Data will be collected regarding school visit numbers, increased participation in
school sessions within partner museums, increase in new volunteers working
with schools and significant increase in confidence within museums that have
currently have little or no formal learning offer.
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C. Budget provision
Individual budgets for each cluster are set out above.
Combined exhibition budget totals:
1.

Learning provider time– review, planning and delivery
43 days @ £300 /day = £12,900.
This breaks down to:
 7 days for reviewing existing learning plan, attending cluster and working
group meetings to understand and feed into the exhibition, consulting
partner museums.
 3 day to consult teachers and pupils.
 12 days for development of sessions and procurement of resources.
 12 days for pilot sessions and individual museum support.
 3 days marketing to schools
 3 days telephone support for partner museums as they roll out sessions.
 3 days Evaluation of project
2.

Resources budget: replica objects, costumes, re-enactors, resources etc £3950
Total Formal Learning Funding =£12, 900 plus £3,950 = £16,850
3. Payments will be made in three equal instalments of £4,300 based on agreed
milestones. Dates to be agreed.
Other items should follow agreed procurement procedures and done in
discussion with the Project Officer.
4. Decisions will be made against the supplier’s responses in Form A. Decisions
will be based around who is considered to fill all the requirements.
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Form A
Fenland Land & Lives Formal Learning Project Procurement
Criteria
Clear evidence of developing
and delivering quality formal
learning activities for schools
Supplier response
Experience working with a
range of museums and
community groups including
volunteers
The resource and staff
capacity to deliver.
Ability to deliver required
outputs within available budget
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A proven ability to develop the
formal learning elements of the
Activity Action Plan into
deliverable activities.
An awareness of Fenland
history and landscape
Please provide details of two contact details for the purposes of obtaining a
reference. These should be able to comment of the ability of your organisation to
meet the above criteria
Reference 1
Reference 2
Applicants may send in no more than three examples education material to
support the application i.e printed material relating to developed education
programmes.
Return address:
Email: stuart.hall@norfolk.gov.uk
Address: Stuart Hall, Fenland Project Officer, King’s Town Hall, 46 Queen Street,
King’s Lynn, PE 30 5DQ
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Appendix 1
Fenland Land and Lives Learning Program Plan
Key Objectives
Identified through consultation with Fenland schools and partner museums.
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To develop three curriculum-based resources for schools that link to the
exhibition and museum collections.
To draw upon the collections and resources at each museum.
To create flexible learning resources which enhance study and
appreciation of the local area.
To develop the volunteers in each museum to enable them to successfully
run the school workshops developed.
To provide sustainable resources for use with schools.
To provide support to the volunteers throughout the life of the project.
To help attract more education volunteers to those museums that need
them.
To help attract visits from schools which do not currently visit.
To provide learning input into the exhibitions to facilitate streamlined
learning experiences.
Audit of current formal learning offers and participation levels at partner
museums
Burwell Museum – No specialist education staff or volunteers. Loan boxes
available but rarely used. Occasional visits from Burwell House and
primary/secondary schools from Easter-November. Volunteers can provide
guided tours and sometimes hands on activities. Charge £1 per child.
Cambridge and County Folk Museum- Part-time paid Education Officer with
several volunteer assistants. Primary and secondary school groups visit
throughout the school year, and regularly use loans boxes. A number of EFL
groups use the Museum.
Chatteris Museum – Education work is done by volunteers, one of whom is an
ex-teacher. Local schools (3) use the loans boxes and visit the Museum
approximately once a year.
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Downham Market Heritage Centre - Education work provided by volunteers, at
least one of whom is an ex-teacher. Local schools visit the Heritage Centre to
look round with a guide. Loans boxes can be borrowed
Ely Museum- Professional Education Officer (3 days per week) supported by a
team of over 25 volunteers. Wide variety of curriculum based workshops,
outreach activities and loans boxes. Visited by around 3500 students per year,
mostly primary school children with some secondary visits.
Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey – Part-time paid Education Officer who
offers a wide range of guided and self-guided/teacher-led workshops to school
groups at the Museum. In addition a large number of outreach sessions are run
at schools. Minimal loans box use.
Flag Fen – Education service offered by volunteers. Currently the visitor centre is
closed and the organisation is undergoing major changes.
Lynn Museum – Formal learning sessions are provided by a part time Learning
Officer. They currently offer a variety of curriculum based sessions as well as
outreach and loans boxes. The do not currently use volunteers in their education
work.
March and District Museum - Education work is provided by volunteers, at least
one of whom is an ex-teacher. 8 primary school groups visited last year for
curriculum-linked workshops and 3 groups used one of a number of free loans
boxes.
Peterborough Museum – One full time and two part time Education posts. Little
use of volunteers. Full and varied curriculum linked programme for key stages 14. Loans boxes and outreach sessions are available.
Prickwillow Museum – Small amount of professional Education Officer time
provided by Ely Museum. A number of volunteers assist at schools workshops, in
particular to run the engines, and around 450 students, primary and secondary,
visited for workshops last year.
Ramsey Rural Museum- education work is provided by two volunteers, one of
whom is an ex-teacher and has good links with local schools. Five primary school
groups visited the Museum last year for guided workshops. There are two loans
boxes which rarely go out to schools but which are used for handling activities at
the Museum.
St Neots Museum – Paid part-time Education Officer delivered curriculum-linked
sessions to 25 school groups in the last year. Outreach to schools took place at 3
schools and loans boxes have been used by 12 schools, both primary and
secondary. Some project work has taken place with St Neots school.
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Thorney Heritage Museum – education work is provided by volunteers, one of
whom is an ex-teacher. Good links exist with the local Thorney school, who have
visited the Heritage museum 3 times in the last year and received outreach visits.
Whittlesey Museum - Education provision is offered by volunteers. 8 schools
received handling sessions last year on local history topics linked with the
museum’s displays. Loans boxes were used by 4 schools.
Wisbech Museum – Education service is run by a volunteer (ex-teacher). A
variety of curriculum workshops are offered linked with the exhibitions and these
are popular with local schools, with whom the education volunteer has
established excellent and continuing links. Around 500 primary students visited
last year and 12 schools used loans boxes.
Octavia Hill – Education provision is offered by the Chairman and via a varied
programme of workshops and some project work. Loans boxes and existing
handling sessions are not well-used at present.
Current Schools Market and potential to attract non-visiting schools
Schools that can walk to the museum: most of the museums have been
visited by or have visited the schools which are closest to them and within
walking distance. In some cases, very good links have been made with these
schools and there is a working relationship between the school and museum.
This is desirable as it allows for consultation and evaluation. In some cases,
however, schools that can walk have not recently used the museum, and these
schools would be a first target. For all schools this project offers a way to develop
the relationship with their local museum and brings new ways of engaging with
the museum’s collections.
Since 'walking schools' do not have to pay transport costs, their visit is very good
value. Partly for this reason, it would be good to try to attract more than one class
from these schools for a visit, e.g. a KS1 group and a KS2 group. If schools can
walk to their local museum this is also more environmentally sustainable as there
is no need to use transport.
Schools within approx 20 minutes drive: these schools are often welldisposed towards their local museum, and some museums have made links with
them. The schools will be part of local clusters and working with the Cluster Coordinators is a good way to discover schools who would particularly benefit from
a museum visit, or who have not had a school trip recently etc. Again, the Coordinators can assist museums to build up working relationships with local
schools and promote museum activities and workshops around the clusters. The
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cluster co-ordinators offer the potential to attract non visiting schools through
making clear the benefits of a museum visit and the curriculum links.
Special needs schools: Museum workshops are particularly valued by special
needs teachers because of their multi-sensory, hands-on activities. A good
relationship between the museum and nearest special needs school will be
valuable. These schools sometimes have budgets specifically for non-classroom
activities, as well as their own transport/minibuses. Through this project
museums can build up links with these schools and tailor workshops to their
specific needs.
Schools that are further away or rurally isolated: these schools may struggle
with transport costs and so outreach visits may be the best way to reach them.
This project offers new ways of using the collections to engage pupils during an
outreach visit. Therefore bringing the museum to those children who do not
usually benefit from the dynamic learning opportunities which museums can
offer.
Evaluation Methodology
Using the Inspiring Learning for All framework, learning resources will focus on
three of the Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs): Knowledge and Understanding,
Skills, and Attitudes and Values.
Methods of evaluation will include
 Consultation with teachers and volunteers in museums in order to feed
into exhibition creation (front-end evaluation)
 Pre and post pilot session discussion with teachers and pupils
 Questionnaires
 Comments and letters from children who have participated in learning
events
 Images and photographs of workshops and learning events
 Post-it notes available for thoughts/comments during and at the end of
learning sessions
Initial discussions with several teachers brought out the following points:
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The hands on element of workshops is important/essential. This is the
major attraction of Museum resources and workshops for teachers, i.e.
that there are real/replica objects and costumes available to provide multisensory experiences, aid historical reconstruction and bring talks and
workshops to life.
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Classroom teachers welcome resources and experiences which they
cannot create easily in the classroom. Museum resources are excellent for
supporting history and geography work in a concrete, compelling way.
Museum resources support history and geography classroom teachers by
providing a level of local expertise and knowledge which primary teachers
may not already have.
One teacher especially liked idea of looking at children’s lives and children
being able to do some discovery work themselves via the exhibition and
supporting resources.
Archaeology component is very welcome. Teaching about historical
evidence is important; archaeology dig boxes would be brilliant. Could
lead to creation of mini-museums in schools.
Classifying and dating objects found in dig boxes excellent
classroom/museum activity.
Migration and settlement themes extremely interesting. Currently, explore
local mix of newly-arrived families/groups from Eastern Europe with
families who have lived in fens and worked the land for centuries. Families
from Poland and Lithuania often come from long line of families who work
the land in these countries. She felt this could be tied in with the Children’s
Lives approach we are proposing.
River, marsh, mere, landscape themes are all great for the primary
curriculum.
Links to ‘Wide Skies’ project.
The ‘Wide Skies’ Heritage Lottery funded project aims to consolidate education
provision at museums in Huntingdonshire District and Fenland District by
recruiting and training volunteers and developing learning resources. The
‘Fenland Land and Lives’ learning project will seek to complement ‘Wide Skies’
through sharing of information and co-ordination of the training programmes to
avoid repetition. Volunteers working within each project will be able to benefit
from the training provided by the other project.
Volunteers will gain from varied training through the ‘Wide Skies’ project which
they will be able to build upon during the life of the ‘Fenland Land and Lives’
project.
‘Wide Skies’ targets the full range of learners from pre-school to adults whilst
‘Fenland Land and Lives’ focuses in on links to the curriculum for ages 4-16
years. This allows volunteers diverse opportunities to engage with different
learners.
It is hoped that the ‘Fenland Land and Lives’ volunteers will benefit from the
intergenerational work of the Wide Skies Project. They will then be able to
practice this through the ‘Fenland Land and Lives’ project work which will extend
beyond the life of ‘Wide Skies’.
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