Art and history teachers have long appreciated the value of an outing to London’s Sir John Soane Museum - the former home of one of England’s greatest architects.
What might be less commonly known is that the museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, left to the nation when Soane died in 1837, now runs programmes linked with the national curriculum on maths, architecture, design and science for KS2 and KS3.
While on a visit there, children are also welcome to use their imaginations and draw. For visits, schools should book in advance and can visit on Wednesdays between 10am-12pm and 1-3pm. Tel. (020) 7405 2107; www.soane.org
What else?
The museum has further stepped up its links to schools, with an appealing new feature - Soane’s Architectural Marathon of London - now added to its website.
Compiled by four groups, and including a video presented by teenage students from two schools in east London, the project investigates nine sites designed and built by Sir John Soane in London. The distance between them is roughly 26 miles - the length of a marathon. On the website, students can click on a number of “windows” in a drawing of the house to get more information on each of Soane’s buildings and their location; and learn how London’s landscape has changed since they were designed.
soanemarathonproject.org.uk.