Gannochy Schools Project Update: February-June 2023

Thanks to funding from The Gannochy Trust Culture Perth and Kinross has employed a school co-ordinator whose work involves collaborating with schools in areas of multiple deprivation. We are working with Alyth, Balhousie, Fairview, Goodlyburn, Letham, Moncreiffe, Saint Ninians, Tulloch, and North Muirton.

In the schools, we ran “Art and Archaeology” sessions, highlighting the museum staff roles and research we use in our museums and galleries to look after the collections. It was exciting for schools to have us back in classrooms passing artefacts around, drawing objects from ancient Egypt and writing on Victorian slates.

In the summer term we arranged VIP tours of the collection’s stores at Perth Art Gallery, with time to dress up and play in the Hands-on Art area. The workshops were delivered by the Learning Team and the Curators at the Gallery. We had great fun maintaining our hands-on immersive approach to the collections. We got great positive feedback afterwards and lots of thank-you cards were posted in! Many of our schools walked to the gallery and had their lunch in our lecture hall. We appreciated the effort they made to get in to see us all.

“Thank you for having us it was so fun! I loved when we saw Penny Farthings and an old PlayStation, it still has the same buttons now. I loved when we saw the cats and Golden Eagle”.

“I am so excited to come back and meet the staff again. I loved seeing all the paintings!” – Pupils from Balhousie Primary School.

“It’s always a great pleasure to share with the next generation the collection housed in Perth Museum that belongs to them as citizens of Perth. It’s great to experience their enthusiasm and interest in it”. – Mark Simmons, Senior Collections Officer at  Perth Art Gallery.

Picts & The Stone of Destiny

Picts and Pictish culture have been the focus of the Learning Team during the summer holidays. We have designed a loan kit, and created outreach sessions for Schools.  The loan box & education pack for schools were created in collaboration with experimental archaeologist Emma Harrison (creator of Bog Born Ceramics) who has made the most beautiful illustrations for the loan kit as shown at the top of this page. As I write specially crafted replica items are being dropped off at the Gallery from hand-crafted bone combs, pottery, a replica Orkney hood, and leather bag all of which are linked to our collection in the new Perth Museum.

The Stone of Destiny has also been a huge topic for us and we have created an online education pack for schools. Following this will be a digital presentation for schools about the project planning for the new Perth Museum.

In December 2023 we will run a CPD event for probationary teachers at Perth Museum. By doing this, the teachers will help us plan how to use the space effectively, help us focus on key subject areas and provide links to the Curriculum for Excellence.