A PIONEERING project to boost educational activities at Cornish museums will be launched at Helston Folk Museum last this month when local schoolchildren will go back in time in a Victorian classroom environment.

For 90 minutes on Thursday, May 15, pupils from Nansloe Junior and Infants will sit at desks of yesteryear in the museum's reconstructed Victorian school room.

They will be taught by a teacher in Victorian costume; wear period clothes themselves; write on slates and handle real and replica artefacts.

The youngsters will be taking part in the first Victorian school role-play workshop to be organised by Truro's Royal Cornwall Museum with the aid of a Museums and Galleries Education grant from the Department for Education and Skills.

The project has received an additional funding boost under the 'Renaissance In The Regions' scheme for major regional museums.

The Royal Cornwall, along with museums in Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter and Bournemouth, form one of the first 'hubs' to receive such support as recognised museums of high quality.

The joint funding has been used to set up a collaborative educational project between the Truro and Helston museums to devise and develop a Victorian schoolroom experience for local primary pupils visiting Helston Museum.

Nine schools in the Helston area have expressed an interest in participating in the project and it is anticipated that the role-play workshop could become a sustainable resource for schools throughout Cornwall.

The initiative is especially welcome at Helston Folk Museum, where recent staff shortages have curtailed development of educational activities.

Stephanie Haxton, a Newlyn-based expert in historical presentations in costume, has been appointed to research the subject and put together the script for the lesson as well as making the Victorian costumes and writing an educational pack for teachers.

'From past experience, we know role-play is an effective way of engaging children in a topic as it allows them to learn by doing,' said Royal Cornwall Museum's education officer Richenda McNaughton.

'Working within the context of a reconstructed schoolroom will serve to reinforce children's understanding of schooling in the past and directly support teachers delivering the history curriculum.

'The overall aim of the new funding is to promote sustainable partnerships between schools and museums, which will contribute to raising standards of achievement in the classroom.'

On arrival, each participating school group will be divided in half for activities. One half will take on the role of Victorian school children and receive instruction in the reconstructed Victorian schoolroom.

That will be preceded and concluded by discussion about life then and now. The other group will handle and draw original Victorian domestic artefacts from the social history collection.

The workshop will support National curriculum history and link directly with the scheme of work - 'What was it like for children living in Victorian Britain?'

The Royal Cornwall Museum will contribute educational expertise, administrative support and archival and photographic information, while Helston will provide access to the social history collection and curatorial advice.

AFTER much consideration, Kerrier District Council has revised the opening hours of its Helston Folk Museum.

It will now be open daily, all year around, from 10am to 1pm, Mondays to Saturdays, plus special extra hours during Half-term Spring Bank Holiday; the summer six-week holiday and December 1-20 inclusive, of 10am to 4pm, Mondays to Saturdays.

A council spokesman said that the new hours would ensure the museum was open at times which demand patterns had shown were best for the community.

By closing in the afternoons, it was anticipated that Janet Spargo, the museum's operations officer, would be able to dedicate more time to conservation, education and marketing to increase visitor numbers.

A further aim of the museum was to increase the number of school visits and where that was not possible, it was hoped that officials would go out to the schools, taking with them various exhibits.

Said Graham Johns, the council's leisure services officer: 'We hope that this change will maintain the existing customer base while also improving the service through the creation of a voluntary working partnerships.

'If anyone would like to be considered as a volunteer, they can contact me on Camborne (01209) 614313.'

FOR more Cornwall news, order a regular copy of the Sunday Independent. FIRST. BEST. EVERY SUNDAY... and just 65p.

TO subscribe to your Indy, and have it delivered direct to your door, call Plymouth (01752) 209135 (Monday to Friday, 9.00 am until 5.00 pm).

Dateline: Sunday, May 4, 2003