Working with Young Volunteers

Would you like to work with young volunteers in your organisation?

During this training session, we will be exploring all aspects of how to work with young volunteers, from recruitment and logistics to safeguarding.
We will hear case studies from museums in the West Midlands about their work with young volunteers.

The session will help delegates to:

This training is aimed at staff who work in museums, art galleries and heritage sites who are interested in developing or improving their provision for young volunteers. Voluntary volunteer co-ordinators, whose main role is to lead day to day on the involvement of volunteers and/ or young people, would also benefit from this session.

About the trainers

Eleanor Moore is the Sustainable Volunteering Officer with the South West Museum Development Programme. Her background is in social and community history curatorship and advisory work within the museums sector, with experience of managing volunteer teams.

Laura Bedford is the Head of Programmes at Kids in Museums. She has worked in or with museums for over 20 years, with previous learning-based roles at the National Maritime Museum, Geffrye Museum (now the Museum of the Home), and Te Papa. Laura previously managed the National Alliance for Museums, Health and Wellbeing and was the director for GEM’s health and wellbeing intermediate course.

Maximum two delegates per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation. 

Accessibility

This online event will be auto-captioned by Zoom. If you would benefit from live captioning or any other form of access support, please answer ‘yes’ to the access requirements question on the booking form and email the WMMD team as early as possible stating the support you require. 

All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link to the training prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email the day before the event please contact us.

Working with Young Volunteers
Monday 18 March 2024, 10am-12.30pm
Online

If you can’t see the booking button, this event is fully booked. To join the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk

Introduction to the National Curriculum

Are you new to Heritage Learning or trying to develop a relevant learning offer that schools will want to book?

Without a background in education or teaching it is sometimes difficult to understand how the National Curriculum works and how you can build a learning offer that is relevant to it. This session will offer a whistle stop tour of the National Curriculum and the opportunities and challenges it presents for museums/ historical sites.

It will also give you time to consider ways in which your museums/ historical sites can deliver learning outcomes across different areas of the curriculum.

By the end of the session, delegates will:

Have an understanding of the National Curriculum
Be able to link this to a museum setting
Have an understanding of learning outcomes
Have met other members of the network at a similar position
The event will be facilitated by Mary Sibson, Creative Learning Officer for Creative Learning Services.

Who should attend?

This training is aimed at museum staff and volunteers working with schools.

Maximum two delegates per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.

The workshop will include a presentation, polls, and break out room activity. This online event will be auto-captioned by Zoom. If you would benefit from live captioning or any other form of access support, please answer ‘yes’ to the access requirements question on the booking form and email the WMMD team as early as possible stating the support you require.

All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link to the training prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email the day before the event please contact us.

Please note this event is a repeat of the event scheduled for 4 July due to a high level of interest.

Introduction to the National Curriculum
Thursday 17 August, 10am-12noon
Online

If you can’t see the booking button, the event is fully booked. Please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk to join the waiting list.

Introduction to the National Curriculum

Are you new to Heritage Learning or trying to develop a relevant learning offer that schools will want to book?

Without a background in education or teaching it is sometimes difficult to understand how the National Curriculum works and how you can build a learning offer that is relevant to it. This session will offer a whistle stop tour of the National Curriculum and the opportunities and challenges it presents for museums/ historical sites.

It will also give you time to consider ways in which your museums/ historical sites can deliver learning outcomes across different areas of the curriculum.

By the end of the session, delegates will:

The event will be facilitated by Mary Sibson, Creative Learning Officer for Creative Learning Services.

Who should attend?

This training is aimed at museum staff and volunteers from Accredited museums or those working towards Accreditation in the East and West Midlands.

Maximum two delegates per organisation. Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation. This event is being delivered in partnership with Museum Development East Midlands. Museums based in East Midlands can book their place here 

This online event will be auto-captioned by Zoom. If you would benefit from live captioning or any other form of access support, please answer ‘yes’ to the access requirements question on the booking form and email the WMMD team as early as possible stating the support you require.

All participants will receive an email containing a Zoom link to the training prior to the event. The email will be sent to the email address used for booking. If you have not received an email the day before the event please contact us.

Introduction to the National Curriculum
Tuesday 4 July, 10am-12noon
Online

If you can’t see the booking button, the event is fully booked. Please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk to join the waiting list.

Engaging With Schools Network Meeting – The Wild Escape

This short and informal online session is a chance for museum staff and volunteers across the Midlands to come together to share ideas and learning.

The theme for this session is ‘The Wild Escape’. Alongside the usual chance to network and share recent experiences in delivering educational sessions with peers from across the region it will be a chance for delegates to hear about recent projects relating to the Art Fund Wild Escapes initiative. This is a major creative project for museums and schools inspired by the wildlife found in museum and gallery collections.

Aims of the session

This session will be hosted by Programme Facilitator Mary Sibson, Creative Learning Services.

The session will be run on the online meeting platform Zoom and details of how to join the session will be sent to delegates the day before.

Who is it for?

This event will be our first East and West Midlands-wide networking event as is open to all museum staff and volunteers from across the region. It is being run as part of the ongoing MDEM Engaging with Schools Network. This is a free to access network for museum staff and volunteers from Accredited museums and those working towards Accreditation. New members are welcome, and you can simply join the network by visiting the MDEM website.

Engaging With Schools Network Meeting – The Wild Escape
Tuesday 6 June, 10am-11.30am
Zoom

Front of House Training: Families with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

As museums welcome back more visitors, ensuring interactions are friendly and welcoming between people working in front facing museum roles and SEND families has never been more important.

A 2019 study from Ecclesiastical surveyed SEND families who had visited museums, castles and heritage sites and found that 42% of parents with special needs children reported that staff or visitors were unfriendly or made them feel uncomfortable.

This session from Kids in Museums will ensure that your museum avoids becoming part of this statistic, offering ideas for fun and accessible interactions with SEND families.

In this virtual training session, aimed at front facing staff and volunteers, we will:

Find out more and book this training

Playscapes – Lunch and Learn

In this session, Sarah Shaw (Director of Museum Tales Ltd and museum family champion), will provide top tips on producing playscapes for your museum, gallery, heritage site or cultural venue.

From outdoor playgrounds to loose parts play, she’ll be covering it all in just 30 minutes.

Book Playscapes Lunch and Learn

Playscapes – Lunch and Learn
Thursday 3 March, 12noon-12.30pm
Online

Family Friendly Reopening

Do you want to understand how families feel about returning to museums and explore ways to create family-friendly approaches in your museum to encourage this audience to visit?

Join us on 12 August for this webinar presented by Kids in Museums which is aimed at staff who work in museums, art galleries and heritage sites who are keen to welcome families back in a safe and positive way.

During this interactive virtual training session Kids in Museums will:

This webinar will be live subtitled and is limited to a maximum two delegates per organisation.

All participants who book on to the webinar will receive an email containing a Zoom link to access the training at least one hour prior to the event.  If you have not received an email by this time please contact us.  Don’t worry you do not need a Zoom account, simply follow the link provided and enter the password.

Priority will be given to delegates from non-NPO and non-National museums in the West Midlands which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.  

If you can’t see the booking button it means we are fully booked.  If you want to go on the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk.

12 August – Family Friendly Reopening
10.30am-12noon, Webinar

Conference 2020 Postponed!

Event Postponed

Updated Friday 13 March

We have been following official government advice surrounding COVID-19 but with a rapidly evolving situation we have taken the decision to postpone the onsite event. Although this is disappointing we hope you’ll agree it is the right thing to do to safeguard you and others.

We will look to reschedule the event in the future or alternatively make the plenaries available online for you to share watching them with colleagues.

If you have any questions please get in touch.

Email: wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk
Tel: 01952 435 900

How to use Drama to invigorate your Education Offer, through the Narrative Immersion approach

Empowering workshop facilitators to use drama processes in their sessions and deliver the Narrative Immersion approach.

By the end of the day delegates will have:

Teas and coffees will be provided, delegates are asked to bring their own lunch.

Priority will be given to staff/volunteers from non-NPO West Midlands museums which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.

Click on the button below to book your place, if there is no button this event is fully booked. If you wish to be added to the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk with the name of the event.

12 February 2020 – Learning through Drama: The Narrative Immersion Approach
10am-4pm Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Little Elborow Street, Rugby CV21 3BZ

Awards ceremony countdown is on!

With just weeks to go before we host the West Midlands Volunteer Awards we are putting the final touches to plans for the glittering celebration.

Representatives and volunteers from museums across the West Midlands will attend the ceremony, which is being held in Birmingham Hippodrome’s Patrick Centre, on Wednesday, September 11th, from 4pm – 8pm.

Our awards, now in their fourth year, have become a key fixture in the volunteer calendar and we are very much looking forward to welcoming all of our 2019 finalists.

The awards were launched in 2016 to recognise the critical role volunteers play in keeping museums running throughout the West Midlands. Since then, more than 400 guests have attended the annual ceremonies and from 90 nominated finalists, 28 individuals and groups have been chosen as overall winners.

Nominations were welcomed from across the region and the scale and quality of entries has been fantastic.

The judges will decide winners in four categories – individual, group, young person (25 and under), and project. And the winner of the prestigious Judge’s Award for Excellence, chosen from finalists in all four categories, will also receive £500 to spend on the museum, heritage site, or art gallery project of their choice.

Guests will be treated to an evening of entertainment that is sure to make it an unforgettable event. In previous years we have invited travelling musicians, hip hop crews, and opera improvisation troupes to take to the stage and keep attendees happy.

We’re not giving anything away just yet but we guarantee an evening unlike any other.

You can see our 2019 finalists here: https://mdwm.org.uk/news/volunteer-awards-finalists-announced/

We look forward to meeting our wonderful finalists soon.