Introducing the Magnus School Group
Showing their Head teacher the lead coffins from Brough during a tour of the Resource Centre
Since April 2010 a group of 15 young people and 3 staff from Year 8 at the Magnus C of E Comprehensive school have been working with us as part of the project. The group have been introduced to the Roman collection and spent a day visiting Lincoln. During the visit they looked at the Roman items in The Collection and toured some of the sites of Roman Lincoln including the Newport arch, which was the northern entrance to Lincoln from the third century. During their first term they have concentrated on learning about the collection in preparation for the guided tours of our museum store, which took place on 15th July for invited guests. The group have also participated in a workshop on constructing a mosaic, which is now displayed on their classroom wall.
The group visited the British Museum on 10th November 2010 , where they were awed by the ceiling of the Great Court as soon as they walked in. After a quick look at the Egyptian galleries it was time for lunch and a special treat, as they got a look at the Newark Torc before it went on display; the first young people from Newark to see it for real! After lunch they split into 2 groups, with one group having the opportunity to handle some of the museums objects, whilst the other group visited the Roman galleries to learn more about Roman Britain and the empire.
Work had been progressing on preparing text panels and object labels for the exhibition and, following the visit, the concentration was really on to get them finished in time for early December, so they could go off to the design company. The exhibition opened to the public on Saturday 8th January, but an official opening was held on Friday 14th January, when the exhibition was formally opened by the Chairman of Newark and Sherwood District Council. After this the Chairman and Leader of the Council presented certificates to all of the participants from both schools. Everybody then had a chance to look at the results of all their hard work and see what their chosen object looked like in a display case. Everyone agreed that all of the work was worth it and now their families, friends, the people of Newark and other visitors to the museum could see their interpretation of ‘What the Romans did for Newark.’ You can see the objects chosen by each of the students by clicking on the links to the left.
