Find out what’s on offer for schools at The Royal Mint Experience, half an hour from Cardiff.
The recently opened Royal Mint Experience allows visitors to discover all about coins and currency, and how it makes its way into pockets and purses around the world.
The museum also now offers a range of opportunities for schools, including workshops and interactive exhibitions for Key Stage 2.
What’s there?
During a typical visit to the museum, students will take a 45 minute guided factory tour, which allows them to see the full production process.
The tour will include a visit to the coin press room, where they will be able to see how pieces of metal become coins.
Schools will also be able to take a 45 minute to one hour self-guided tour of the interactive exhibition, which is divided into six zones.
The exhibition trail will lead pupils through a history of The Royal Mint and its processes, from design through to production.
Exhibits featuring machinery, coins and medals – including military and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic medals – are also on show, and will add to pupils’ learning of Art, Design, History and Science.
School Packages
There are two packages for schools to choose from – the tour and exhibition package and the workshop package.
Both options include the factory tour and access to the interactive exhibition. In addition, the workshop package includes two curriculum-linked workshops, which take place in the museum’s dedicated activity space.
Workshop options
The Fakes and Forgeries workshop has curriculum links to History and Science, as well as Curriculum Cymraeg and Literacy and Numeracy frameworks, including opportunities for pupils to develop numerical reasoning, use measuring and data skills.
During the workshop, pupils will be able to;
• Find out how counterfeiting has challenged The Royal Mint over the centuries, from the time of Sir Isaac Newton through to the present day.
• Develop their investigation skills by becoming a Royal Mint coin inspector, using genuine scientific equipment to test £1 coins for counterfeits.
• Learn how future coins, including the UK’s new 12-sided £1, will be protected from counterfeiting using modern high-security features.
The Coin Designer workshop has links to Curriculum Cymraeg and Literacy and Numeracy frameworks for Wales including opportunities to handle information, ask questions, work cooperatively and present ideas.
There are also curriculum links to both History and Art and Design in this session.
During this workshop, schools will;
• Discover the importance of coin designs and learn how each is chosen.
• Learn about coin designers Matthew Dent and Edwina Ellis, and discover how they created the designs of the change in our pockets.
• Learn the meanings of positive and negative and discover why they are important if pupils want their designs to feature on a future coin.
Further information
Additional resources include pre-visit information and free downloadable post-visit classroom resources that complement the workshops.
There is also a café and shop on-site.
Further educational events for Key Stages 1 to5 will be announced throughout the year.
For more information visit www.royalmint.com/the-royal-mint-experience/school-visits.
