Education is recognised as one of the most important functions of the Museum. The Education Service offers schools a programme of Educational Sessions using the valuable educational resource provided by the Museum collections and displays. Sessions link with KS 1 and KS 2 of the National Curriculum to help you in its delivery. The Learning Officer and a team of retired, highly qualified and enthusiastic teachers deliver the sessions.
Educational Activities - 'What's in a name?'
The Education Team recently prepared some interesting activities designed for local primary-aged children. These activities are about 'Place Names in Bushey'. There are 6 activities: your can either do them in order, starting with No. 1 - or start by picking any one as you wish!
- If you are doing them as part of your schools summer holiday activities, then please hand your work to your teacher.
- If you are doing them as an individual, you can post your work through the Bushey Museum's letter box. The Education Team will be delighted to read it! And if you would like it to be returned to you, then please do include a stamped addressed envelope as well.
The Activities are:
- Where does the name Bushey come from?
- The origin of some Bushey place names.
- Put these place names on a map.
- Spot the difference - some Bushey places, then and now.
- Three tasks about names
- What do road names, like Road, Street and Close mean?
Click here to go to these Activities. Enjoy!
Regular Sessions
Education is recognised as one of the most important functions of the Museum. The Education Service offers schools a programme of sessions using the valuable educational resource provided by the Museum collections and displays. Sessions link with KS 1 and KS 2 of the National Curriculum to help you in its delivery. The Learning Officer and a team of retired, highly qualified and enthusiastic teachers deliver the sessions.
Depending on the session booked they are either held at Bushey Museum and Art Gallery, Rudolph Road or at Reveley Lodge, Elstree Road. We also offer some sessions as 'Outreach' sessions where we come to you. If you would like to know more about our regular sessions or how we can devise a new session for you please enquire on 020 8420 4057 on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
Our regular sessions are listed below. More information on each session is included further down this page.
- Toys Old and New
- The Victorian Experience
- Plants and Seeds
- World War Two
- Meet Lucy Kemp-Welch (1869-1958)
- Local History
- Artefact Boxes
NB: At our Activities, photographs of participants may be taken. Parents/guardians should inform us if they wish a child to be excluded.
Toys Old and New Session
Venue: Bushey Museum and Art Gallery, Rudolph Rd, Bushey. WD23 3HW
Length: 1hr and 15mins.
Price: £2.00 per pupil
For: Key Stage 1. For this Session we also offer visits to schools as part of our Outreach Programme.
This session allows children to discover toys from the past as well as the present. It helps them to understand and use the language we need to talk about history – old, older, oldest, past, new, modern, old fashioned. Come and meet Big Ted and Little Ted and work out which is the oldest. In addition the children think about the materials the toys are made from and how these have changed over time. The children will have the opportunity to play with toys old and new.
Click on the Toy Train below to see the video!
Victorian Experience Session
We are extending our popular 'Victorian Experience' as a virtual experience supported by original film footage. Please click below to view the trailer and contact our education Officer Adele Taylor for more information. Contact details: adele.taylor20@gmail.com or on 0208 950 1017.
Venue: Reveley Lodge, 88, Elstree Rd, Bushey. WD23 4GL
Length: 2hrs and 30 to 45 mins.
Price: £4.50 per pupil or minimum session price £110.00.
For: Key Stage 1 and 2
Reveley Lodge is a Victorian house with many original features and artefacts. Find out what it was like to work as a servant in a large house. Help the laundry maid by operating the dolly tub and mangle. Work out how she dried the clothes on a cold, wet day and how she ironed the clothes without an electric iron.
What were the duties of the housemaid? Why did she get up at 5:30am? Why is she dressed differently to the laundry maid?
Experience what it was like to go to school in Victorian times and obey the very strict rules. Hope you don’t incur the wrath of the school inspector who administers severe punishments for incorrect behaviour. Discover if writing on a slate is easy and what a “copy book” is. Oh and don’t forget your penny!
Visit the Victorian kitchen and compare it with your kitchen at home. Work out what type of power they used to cook food and how they made toast without a toaster.
Tour the dining room, dressing room and bedroom. What is a dressing room used for and what was a gazunder?
Finally sit down to tea and learn about Victorian table manners. No elbows on the table please.
Costumes: Children can borrow simple costumes that are worn over their school uniforms – smocks for the girls and waistcoats or sailor collars for the boys. They can of course create their own.
Plants and Seeds Session
Venue: Reveley Lodge, 88 Elstree Rd, Heath. WD23 4GL
Sessions available: during the Spring and Summer.
Length: 1hr and 15 min session
Price: £2.00 per pupil
For: Key Stage 1
The session is held in the garden at Reveley Lodge and is divided into three parts.
Part 1 is a tour of the garden including visiting the bug hotel, the beehives, the vegetable garden, the herb bed and medicinal plants bed.
In Part 2 they identify and handle different types of seeds and work out how and why seeds are dispersed.
In Part 3 they learn what is necessary to encourage plants to grow and pot up their own seeds to take back to school and to nurture them.
World War Two Session
Venue: Reveley Lodge, 88, Elstree Rd, Bushey. WD23 4GL
Length: 2hrs and 15mins
Price: £3.00 per pupil or minimum session price £110.00.
For: Key Stage 2
This session covers three aspects of the home front: the Blitz, rationing and evacuation. We also look at some wartime diary extracts written by Albert and Eila Chewtt who lived in the house at the time. Find out how the war affected them.
The Blitz What was the blitz and why did people need blackout curtains? Work out why bombs were dropped on Bushey and discover what it felt like when the air raid warning siren went off. Shelter in Albert and Eila’s basement air raid shelter and listen to the bombers go overhead. Handle artefacts such as a bicycle lamp and air raid wardens helmets. Become a fire watcher and operate a stirrup pump.
Rationing What is rationing and why was it introduced? How did the system work? The session focus is on food rationing. Help weigh out a week’s ration of tea, sugar, cheese and butter. Just how many jelly babies did you get in your weekly sweet ration? What did people do to supplement their rations? What else was rationed?
Evacuation What does it mean to be evacuated and why was evacuation introduced? Find out what it was like to leave your parents and home for an unknown destination and live with complete strangers.
Meet Lucy Kemp-Welch (1869-1958) Session
Venue: Bushey Museum and Art Gallery, Rudolph Rd, Bushey. WD23 3HW. The session is held in the Lucy Kemp-Welch Gallery which displays some of her major paintings.
We can also offer visits to schools as part of our Outreach Programme using a number of her smaller works.
Length: 1hr and 30mins
Price:£2.00 per pupil
For: Key Stage 2
Lucy Kemp-Welch attended the Herkomer School of Art in Bushey and went on to achieve national recognition especially as a painter of animals – in particular horses. The children will love her illustrations for the 1915 edition of Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty. During the session children will visit the Margaret Frobisher art studio in the museum grounds and consider its design and purpose. This is one of only a handful that have survived from the late Victorian period.
In the gallery children will have the opportunity to look at some of her paintings and “meet” Lucy. They can help to interview her to find out about her life as an artist. This will be followed by a drawing session. Hopefully inspired by Lucy.
Local History Session
Venue: Bushey Museum and Art Gallery, Rudolph Rd, Bushey. WD23 3HW
Price: £2.00 per pupil
For: Key Stage 2
Bushey Museum has a wealth of material that illustrates the history of the village. Find out about Bushey in the Doomsday Book, where you would have found a cat named Bushey and the pop stars who came to school here and lots more. We can tailor sessions to meet your requirements.
Artefact Boxes Session
[Details to be added]