The website is a collaborative project between South Wales Schools and The Big Pit. © Image courtesy Gwent County Council/GTCW.

A website collaboration between South East Wales Schools and Big Pit, the National Coalmining Museum of Wales, has been awarded a prestigious education award by Becta, the UK agency which supports UK education departments in their strategic ICT developments.

‘Children of the Revolution’ is a website about the life and work of industrial Blaenavon in the middle of the 19th Century, which allows children to explore what life was like in early industrial Wales, using video, virtual reality, modelling exercises and interactive mapping.

The teachers, educational professionals and museum education officers who developed it were awarded their Best Practice ‘collaboration award’ at a ceremony held during the BETT conference at Olympia, London on January 12 2005.

“The website has been a tremendous success,” said Don Trueman of the Gwent Primary History Resource Service. “We have even had enquiries about it from as far afield as Malaysia and Germany.”

The Big Pit can add this latest accolade to the Gulbenkian Museum of The Year award they collected in 2005. © Big Pit National Mining Museum of Wales.

The site, which was produced through professional development work and part-funded by the General Teaching Council of Wales (GTCW) has been used both within primary schools and secondary schools (for Key Stage 3) in Newport.

“We could not have achieved so much so quickly without the support of the General Teaching Council for Wales and the funding they made available for us to collaborate with primary school teachers on the educational element of the website,” added Mr Trueman.

The network consisted of five Newport primary school teachers who met together with a headteacher and education professionals on a regular basis from November 2002 to January 2003. In collaboration with museum education officers they looked at the most effective ways in which life in the new industrial town could be illustrated and used to develop pupil’s enquiry skills, as well as develop key life skills in literacy, numeracy and ICT.

For the Big Pit, the collaboration and subsequent award is the summation of a very successful year at the museum. “Having our education provision recognised with this award has been the icing on the cake for us," said Peter Walker, keeper and mine manager at Big Pit.

"We were awarded a Sandford Award for Heritage Education in November, and having our partnership work with Newport acknowledged with the Becta award reinforces the excellent work we undertake within the Education sector,” he added.

The innovative schools and museums partnership also produced ‘The Caerleon Challenge’, another interactive website developed at the Roman Legionary Museum in Caerleon, Gwent.

The website has been used as a resource not only in the UK but also in Germany and Malaysia. Image courtesy Gwent County Council/GTCW.

Vanessa Pittard, Director of Evidence and Evaluation, Becta said: "The ability to inspire and motivate learners and colleagues is a common theme throughout these awards."

"This year there is even more emphasis on dissemination by encouraging those individuals identified through the awards to inspire others to improve their use of ICT in teaching across all stages of the curriculum.”

Speaking in response to the award for Children of the Revolution, Hayden Llewellyn, Deputy Chief Executive of CTCW commented: “We are extremely pleased that South East Wales Schools and Museums Partnership has seen its hard work recognised in this way. This is an example of how innovative methods of education in Wales are having a major impact on the UK as a whole.”

Mr Llewellyn went on to encourage all teachers in Wales to take advantage of the funding opportunities that GTCW can offer.

“A professional development network grant offers funding of up to £8,000 and enables a group of teachers to work together on a regular share in developing best practice for their own benefit as well as that of their schools and pupils,” he said.

Culture Minsiter David Lammy has recently announced a funding package to support museum and school educational collaborations in England. © 24 Hour Museum

The award comes just after an announcement by the Department of Culture Media and Sport of a £9.4 million boost for museums and galleries in England to pursue educational work.

Culture Minister, David Lammy, and Schools Minister, Andrew Adonis, announced that the DCMS and DfES will be jointly investing the £9.4m from 2006 to 2008 in strengthening the ability of museums and galleries to support children and young people’s education.

Culture Minister David Lammy said: “The funding will enable museums and galleries to build capacity and develop educational activities tailored to meet the needs of a range of pupils inside and outside the classroom."

To find out more about grants available from the GTCW in Wales contact the professional development team on 0292 055 0350 or email cpd@gtcw.org.uk