Initiative launched to encourage museum visits for KS2 pupils

Art Explora has teamed up with the British Museum to launch Time Odyssey – a new interactive learning experience for KS2 children which takes pupils on a quest through their local museum.

The experience was launched at the British Museum on 13th May as part of a major campaign to tackle cultural inequality in the UK. 

Both the museum visit and the school transport costs are covered by Art Explora, to ensure all schools can take part. Running over three years, the programme expects to take over one hundred thousand children on school trips to museums across the country.

The launch of the initiative comes after new data revealed over 60% of teachers said they had not taken their class to a museum on a school trip in the last 12 months. Cost was cited as the most significant barrier preventing teachers from taking pupils to museums, particularly schools outside London and in those with a higher percentage of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. 

Art Explora offers the entire experience free of charge, including museum admission, experience and transport and is working with partner museums to prioritise schools with a high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals and those located in rural areas.

Frédéric Jousset, president and founder of Art Explora said: “School trips offer enrichment that cannot be experienced in the classroom. This should be a fundamental right for young people, not be an optional extra.

“Time Odyssey levels the playing field, making sure that all children have access to culture, no matter what their background.”  

The programme also involves a tablet-based element that engages pupils with museum collections, encouraging young people to spend more time in front of objects and artefacts, while providing teachers with structured learning support. The initiative is designed to help enhance pupils’ knowledge and understanding of historical periods and skills, as well as their teamwork, communication and digital literacy.

Following a successful pilot last year, the initiative will be rolled out at the following museums:

• Yorkshire Museums, York
• Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
• The Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne
• Manchester Museum
• South Shields Museum & Art Gallery

National Museums Liverpool, Heritage Doncaster and Tees Valley Museums are set to join the programme later this year.