This July will see the opening of the new Postal Museum in London, which will showcase the history of Britain’s mail system and the forgotten underground railway it ran on.
This new heritage attraction in central London will offer two experiences in one: The Postal Museum and Mail Rail. Visits will be suitable for pupils in Early Years and Key Stages 1, 2 and 3.
School groups will have the chance to explore 500 years of social history as well as travel 70-feet under London to ride the Post Office’s forgotten railway.
In the Postal Museum, pupils will able to learn about Britain’s industrial heritage, and explore inspiring galleries packed with objects, stories and interactive displays. Postal memorabilia will include creative stamps and Victorian pop-up cards, plus what’s reportedly the world’s earliest Christmas card.
The new museum will also offer school groups the opportunity to ride through part of the tunnels on the modern equivalent of a mail train. ‘Mail Rail’ will be a subterranean train journey lasting 15 minutes, complete with a few theatrical surprises.
The train journey will be accompanied by a Mail Rail exhibition, which will display everything from a battery-powered locomotive that was used in the past to come to the aid of broken down train carriages, to engineer’s tool kits and mailbag exchange systems.
The schools programme
The Postal Museum Schools Programme will include interactive workshops, science shows, special projects and behind the scenes tours inspired by historical stories and objects.
Learning programmes will be delivered by facilitators and supported by self-led gallery trails and downloadable pre- and post-visit resources for use in the classroom.
Learning programmes will support teaching across the curriculum, in particular History, Literacy, Art and Design and Computing, and will encourage the development of creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving and communication skills.
Educational workshops are currently being trialled at the Postal Museum at a discounted rate. The full workshop offering and pricing will be confirmed in September.
For further information about the postal Museum, visit www.postalmuseum.org.
(Photo credit: The Postal Museum, Miles Willis).
