The D&T Days Gone By Museum

Following the COVID disruption, returning to normality and the physical interaction with objects and artifacts was key to the museum’s development and success. Talking, discussing, sharing, and suggesting are all key components of the students' experience when they visit the museum.  The ‘pick up and play’ approach became the heart of the project and I wanted to ensure that the museum was maintained as a teaching space rather than a room full of what my wife often refers to as ‘other people’s junk’. Inspired by the collection created by Simon Wood, armed with my own personal hoard (that had been hidden away for many years) and with zero budget, the journey began.

An unused classroom, adjacent to our department, was acquired (a rare thing, I appreciate). With only tables and chairs and one battered old bookcase, it required some thought and creative planning. As an advocate of recycling, all the furniture was upcycled from refits around school, skips and local recycling social media sites and even the paint was a job lot of tester pots (250 in fact) from a local recycling shop. The space was now ready to receive the first artefacts!

Messages on parent forums, announcements in assemblies, local selling sites, the odd visit to a car boot and my ‘go to place’ Facebook Marketplace have all led to a steady flow of donations. Items have come from near and far such as Hong Kong, Jersey and many places around the UK. Our most recent area named the ‘Game Zone’ is providing a popular insight into the evolution of gaming and will soon provide students with an opportunity to play games and interact with fully functioning consoles (PAT tested of course). FIFA 98 on the PlayStation One anyone?

With windows at one end overlooking a quad where our other rooms are situated, the museum space enables you to view some of the exhibits from the outside, enticing visitors in. It has become a popular addition to open evenings along with visiting staff and parents all enjoying ‘a trip down memory lane’.

I do have my favourite exhibits (or, as many have said, obsessions!). A real highlight is a television from 1950’s, where the donor sat huddled with her family watching the Queen’s coronation in 1953. A 1960’s sewing machine used to make costumes for the amateur dramatics’ society in Port Stanley, on the Falkland Islands and a set of Boots electric hair curlers (although no use to me as a follically challenged individual!) that I recall my mother using whilst growing up. The Dyson collection, with all the original iconic grey and yellow colour scheme, (albeit missing the DCO6 robotic version) is also regularly and enthusiastically highlighted by the museum curator.

The students and staff alike thoroughly enjoy visiting the museum and it has been woven into a unit of work. Students study the evolution of a chosen exhibit and use their modelling skills to replicate it, with many linked skills being taught and learnt. More recently, the museum has become mobile, by way of a pilot project with a local primary school, using a selection of our exhibits as part of a “looking into the past” project. Hearing about how the young children struggled to explain how a dial up phone and receiver was used was a particular highlight. The intention is for this to evolve and be used with trust schools as part of primary transition and to support the teaching of D&T pre-secondary.

The museum is evolving, and donations continue to flood in. We are looking at how the space can be developed further and are even looking at how the ceilings can be utilised to continue to make the space an inviting and an exciting place to be in. Even the signage has caused a stir!