The museum was the first in the country to receive the award and the staff have continued to work tirelessly to promote their education programme and after school club at Barnard Castle.
IIC Project Worker Kim Kyle found children attending the club, which is open to children aged seven to twelve, to be ‘extremely enthusiastic about their time in the Museum.’
“All the children and young people I met with were very positive about The Bowes Museum,” she said. “They feel they have the opportunity to participate in direction of not just the After School Club but also the Museum as a whole.”
She went on to say that the young people involved in her report agreed with its content and the recommendations made.
“Therefore it is on their behalf that I have no hesitation in recommending that the Museum remains a member of Investing in Children,” she added.
Lisa Jeffries, the Museum’s Head of Education and Workforce Development, paid tribute to her staff Beth Lappin and Pauline Hukin, who organise the activities at the club, congratulating them on ensuring the Museum retained the award.
“We were the first Museum in the country to get this,” she said. “It’s done on an annual basis and assessed by the children and it’s their responses that determine whether the Museum continues to receive it, so we are doubly delighted.”
Investing in Children is concerned with the human rights of young people, ensuring they have a voice and are able to effect change and influence the services they use.
For more information on The Bowes Museum go to
www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk or call 01833 690606.
