Combining Awards: Heritage Hero and Duke of Edinburgh Awards at Groam House Museum

A mentored, but self-directed series of activities to engage with the Pictish Heritage of the area and to help design and deliver a youth friendly event at Groam House Museum over the school summer holidays. This project formed part of a Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award, fulfilling the student’s Volunteering aspect of the award.

How the project achieved the sections of the award

Plan

The DofE Student discussed the outline plans for the project with the Educational Team at Groam House Museum and with the Museum Admin Team. He understood expectations and offered to participate in everything requested to help fulfil the volunteering requirements of DofE.

Investigate

The student learned about the Pictish Heritage and Culture of the area by attending a workshop run by the Museum Curator as part of Induction Training for Museum Volunteers. This helps equip him with the background knowledge of the museum, its collections and the local history, helping him field questions from the public while representing the museum at the Meet a Pict Event.

Engage

The student engaged with the work of the museum by participating in shadow shifts with museum attendants – as part of this the student got to experience the challenge of providing visitor services and providing information to visitors about the artefacts on display in the museum. The student also completed a self-directed project, taking photos to create contemporary views of historic shots. The photos will be used in further children’s activities at the museum.

Inspire

The student was a key part of the working group that conceived and delivered a two-day child -friendly event – ‘Meet a Pict’ open weekend at the museum over the school summer holidays. The student was involved in elements of designing, producing, and then delivering ‘Youth Friendly’ activities at the museum. He set up and took down his area, taking leadership in how it should be structured. He led activities, supervising children and engaging them in historic games, and assisting in other areas as needed.

Reflect

The student provided feedback on the activities he engaged with. He also contributed to a focus discussion as to how to make the museum more accessible to youth. His feedback was universally positive and encouraging. It is hoped that the student may consider continuing his role with the Museum as a ‘Youth Ambassador’.
We felt having a young person leading the activities at the open weekend encouraged more children to engage with him and the activities he led.

Lessons Learned

The Heritage Heros format was a very useful way to structure the DofE volunteering project as part of his DofE Award. It enabled a well-defined project to be put in place, to ensure the student and the museum both attained maximum benefit from the experience.

Highlight(s)

The Meet a Pict weekend, supported by the young volunteer.

The benefit of using the Heritage Hero Awards

The Heritage Hero Award template gave a useful structure to enhance the experience offered to the DofE Student. Using the Award we were able to ensure they had a positive experience volunteering at Groam House Museum.

Case study compiled by Dr Andrew Newton and Cindy Campbell, Groam House Museum

With thanks to the Board and Trustees of Groam House Museum